physics

Stephen H. Davis

Stephen H. Davis is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Stephen H. Davis rather than just read about it. In short: Stephen Howard Davis (September 7, 1939 – November 12, 2021) was an American applied mathematician working in the fields of fluid mechanics and materials science. Davis served as McCormick School Institute Professor and Walter P.

Key takeaways

Stephen H. Davis belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Stephen H. Davis to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Stephen H. Davis from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Stephen Howard Davis (September 7, 1939 – November 12, 2021) was an American applied mathematician working in the fields of fluid mechanics and materials science. Davis served as McCormick School Institute Professor and Walter P. Murphy Professor of Applied Mathematics at Northwestern University. He has been listed as an ISI Highly Cited Researcher in the field of engineering. His work was acknowledged in festschrifts in 2002. Davis was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1994 for contributions to the mathematics of hydrodynamic stability theory and interfacial phenomena. An ISI Highly Cited Researcher, Davis has authored four books and more than 200 academic publications, and given numerous special lectures.

Career Davis received his B.E.E. in Electrical Engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1960 and the M.S. and PhD in Mathematics in 1962 and 1964, respectively. He was a research mathematician at the RAND Corporation from 1964 to 1966, a lecturer in Applied Mathematics at Imperial College London for 1966–1968, and assistant, associate, and full professor of Mechanics at the Johns Hopkins University from 1968–1978. Davis joined the Northwestern faculty in January 1979. When he retired in 2019, Davis also held courtesy appointments in the mechanical engineering and chemical and biological engineering departments in Northwestern University. He was assistant then associate editor of the Journal of Fluid Mechanics from 1969–1989 and the editor from 2000–2009. He was an editor of the Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics from 2001–2021.

Research Davis' research interests included theoretical fluid mechanics, hydrodynamic stability and interfacial phenomena, materials science, thin films and crystal growth, and asymptotic and variational methods. Davis is known for introducing new mathematical methods in fluid mechanics and material science, confronting issues beyond the frontiers of the fields, and obtaining fundamental understandings of mechanisms of behavior in anticipation of future needs. In fluid mechanics, Davis first studied the instability of time-dependent flows including Stokes Layers and first identified and studied dynamic instabilities driven by variations in surface tension along interfaces. He gave the first nonlinear theory of film rupture by instabilities driven by van der Waals attractions and the first coupling of evaporation and thin film instabilities. He gave the first analytic theory of moving contact lines leading to the understanding of the dynamics and instabilities of droplet spreading. His highly-cited review article laid out how long-wave asymptotic theory would be the basis of research worldwide in the analysis of thin-films, droplet spreading, and micro/nano-science flows. In material science, Davis pioneered the coupling of morphological instabilities and material anisotropy and was the first to give results for rapid solidification in which thermodynamic disequilibrium generates banding. He wrote the book Theory of Solidification for Cambridge University Press. Further, he was the first to use long-wave theories to describe the destabilization of deposited solid films and their evolution to quantum dots through coarsening via the derivation of convective Cahn-Hilliard equations. He gave growth laws for nanowire evolution by bulk or surface diffusion (stepwise growth). Davis studied the dynamics of metallic foams and devised a unique numerical simulation based on a network model that can be used to follow in time a regular foam as it becomes disorganized. Finally, Davis pioneered the study of the interaction of fluid and solidification finding ways of using imposed motion to delay morphological instability and showing how freezing can modify the modes of convection. He outlined a method of freezing a metallic foam so as to produce a porous solid with uniform permeability.

Honors and awards 2017, Member, Academia Europaea 2004, Member, National Academy of Sciences 2001, G. I. Taylor Medal, Society of Engineering Science (SES) 1995, Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1994, Member, National Academy of Engineering 1994, Fluid Dynamics Prize, American Physical Society 1994, Humboldt Research Award for Senior Research Scientists, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Stephen H. Davis

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Stephen H. Davis claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Stephen H. Davis before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Stephen H. Davis ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Stephen H. Davis

In research: Stephen H. Davis appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Stephen H. Davis in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Stephen H. Davis is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1939 births, 2021 deaths, American fluid dynamicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Stephen H. Davis outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Stephen H. Davis in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Stephen H. Davis means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Stephen H. Davis out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Stephen H. Davis in simple terms?

Why does Stephen H. Davis matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Stephen H. Davis?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Stephen H. Davis.