Eli Sternberg
California Institute of Technology
November 13, 1917 - October 8, 1988
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Scientific Discipline: Applied Physical Sciences Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1979)
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Eli Sternberg was America’s leading specialist on the mathematical theory of elasticity. His research answered cryptic questions that plagued European elasticians in the early 20th Century. Along with M.A. Sadowsky, he co-published the first paper in America on the subject of three-dimensional stress concentration in 1949. Sternberg’s contributions covered a vast array of topics that included: general theorems on the integration of the equations of elasticity, theorems on the uniqueness of solutions, the establishment of conservation laws, and an explanation for the concept of concentrated forces. The broad applicability of Sternberg’s research made him a universally-accepted expert in the scientific fields of engineering and elasticity.
Sternberg attended the University of North Carolina, and earned his B.C.E. degree in 1941. He then went to the Illinois Institute of Technology to receive his M.S. in civil engineering in 1943 and his Ph.D. in mechanics two years later. That same year, he became a professor of mechanics at the institute. He remained there until 1956 when he accepted a professorship of mechanics at Brown University. Sternberg stayed at the college for several years before he left to teach at the California Institute of Technology in 1964, where he stayed until his retirement. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.
