Rutherford Aris

From Chemical engineer gifted with alter egoby Margalit Fox,
The New York Times, 19 November 2005

( selections )

Rutherford Aris, a distinguished chemical engineer who, as the result of a mix-up three decades ago, had a short-lived but supremely accomplished alter ego Aris Rutherford, with an official entry in Who's Who died on Nov. 2 in Edina, Minn. He was 76.

Originally trained as a mathematician, he went on to become a chemical engineer, doing seminal work in both disciplines. A skilled classicist, he was also a widely respected scholar of paleography, the study of ancient writing. An accomplished calligrapher, he wrote a book on the historical evolution of letterforms.

His scholarly publications appeared in an unorthodox array of journals, from Chemical Engineering Science and Mathematical Biosciences to New Literary History and The Thoreau Quarterly. Aris, known as Gus, was born in Bournemouth, England, on Sept. 15, 1929, the son of Algernon Pollock Aris and the former Janet Elford. At 16, he completed a bachelor's degree in mathematics at the University of London; the university, reluctant to grant a degree to one so young, did not officially confer it until 1948, when he was 19.

In 1955, after a stint in industry, Aris joined the University of Minnesota as a researcher; three years later, without a doctorate, he was hired by the department of chemical engineering and materials science. His work, which involved the mathematical modeling of chemical reactions, contributed to the design of safer, more efficient chemical reactors.

Aris earned a Ph.D. by correspondence from the University of London in 1960; he received a doctor of science degree from the university in 1964.

Aris' books include "The Optimal Design of Chemical Reactors" (Academic Press, 1961); "Mathematical Modeling: A Chemical Engineer's Perspective" (Academic Press, 1999); and "Explicatio Formarum Litterarum The Unfolding of Letterforms: From the First Century to the Fifteenth" (St. Paul: Calligraphy Connection, 1990).

A former Guggenheim fellow, Aris authentically belonged to many learned societies, including the American Chemical Society, the Society for Mathematical Biology and the Society of Scribes and Illuminators.

Press Telegram
Saturday, November 19, 2005, page A20
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Aris, Rutherford. Title Mathematical modeling : a chemical engineer's perspective / Rutherford Aris. Publisher San Diego : Academic Press, c1999. Description xxi, 479 p. : ill. ; 26 cm. Series Process systems engineering ;v. 1 ISBN 0126045852 (acid-free paper) Language English Note Includes bibliographical references and index.

Alhumaizi, Khalid Title Surveying a dynamical system : a study of the Gray-Scott reaction in a two-phase reactor / Khalid Alhumaizi and Rutherford Aris Publisher Harlow : Longman, 1995 Description 328 p. : ill. ; 25 cm Series Pitman research notes in mathematics series,0269-3674 ;341 ISBN 0582246881 Language English Note Includes index Note Bibliography: p. 312-321

Aris, Rutherford. Title Mathematical modelling techniques / Rutherford Aris. Publisher New York : Dover Publications, c1994. Description xiv, 269 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. ISBN 0486681319 (pbk.) Language English Note "The Dover edition has been expanded by the addition of six journal articles not included in the original edition"--T.p. verso. Note Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Patterns and dynamics in reactive media / Rutherford Aris, Donald G. Aronson, Harry L. Swinney, editors. Publisher New York : Springer-Verlag, c1991. Description 206 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. Series The IMA volumes in mathematics and its applications ;v. 37 ISBN 038797671X (N.Y. : alk. paper) 354097671X (Berlin : alk. paper) Language English Note Contains lectures given at a workshop held at the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, Minneapolis, Minn., Oct. 16-20, 1989. Note Includes bibliographical references.

Aris, Rutherford. Title Explicatio formarum litterarum = The unfolding of letterforms : from the first century to the fifteenth / text and selection by Rutherford Aris ; design and layout by Diane Von Arx Anderson ; with foreword by Leonard Boyle. Publisher St. Paul, MN (P.O.Box 4024, St. Paul 55104) : Calligraphy Connection, 1990. Description 1 v. (various pagings) : ill. ; 32 cm. Language English Note Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Aris, Rutherford. Title Vectors, tensors, and the basic equations of fluid mechanics / Rutherford Aris. Publisher New York : Dover Publications, 1989. Description xiv, 286 p. ; 22 cm. ISBN 0486661105 Language English

Aris, Rutherford. Title Elementary chemical reactor analysis / Rutherford Aris. Publisher Boston : Butterworths, c1989. Description xii, 352 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. Series Butterworths series in chemical engineering ISBN 0409902217 Language English Note Reprint. Originally published: Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice Hall, 1969. Originally published in series: Prentice-Hall international series in the physical and chemical engineering sciences. Note Includes bibliographical references.

Rhee, Hyun-Ku, 1939- Title Theory and application of hyperbolic systems of quasilinear equations / Hyun-Ku Rhee, Rutherford Aris, Neal R. Amundson. Publisher Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, c1989. Description xii, 548 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. Series First-order partial differential equations ;v. 2 Prentice-Hall international series in the physical and chemical engineering sciences ISBN 0133192377 : Language English Note Includes bibliographies and indexes.

Catalyst design : progress and perspectives / L. Louis Hegedus, editor ; Rutherford Aris ... [et al.]. Publisher New York : Wiley, c1987. Description xi, 288 p. : ill. ; 25 cm. ISBN 0471851388 : Language English Note "A Wiley-Interscience publication." Note Includes bibliographical references and index.

Rhee, Hyun-Ku, 1939- Title Theory and application of single equations / Hyun-Ku Rhee, Rutherford Aris, Neal R. Amundson. Publisher Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, c1986. Description xiii, 543 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. Series First-order partial differential equations ;v. 1 Prentice-Hall international series in the physical and chemical engineering sciences ISBN 0133191958 : Language English Note Includes bibliographies and indexes.

Rhee, Hyun-Ku, 1939- Title First-order partial differential equations / Hyun-Ku Rhee, Rutherford Aris, Neal R. Amundson. Publisher Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, c1986- Description v. ; 24 cm. Series Prentice-Hall international series in the physical and chemical engineering sciences ISBN 0133191958 (v. 1) : Language English Note Includes bibliographies and indexes. Contents v. 1. Theory and application of single equations -- v. 2. Theory and application of hyberbolic systems of quasilinear equations.

Aspects of change : being a selection of lectures by members of the faculty of the University of Minnesota on how change is considered in their several disciplines / edited by A. Liberman and R. Aris. Publisher [Minneapolis] : University of Minnesota, 1985. Description 172 p. : ill. ; 28 cm. Language English

Springs of scientific creativity : essays on founders of modern science / Rutherford Aris, H. Ted Davis, Roger H. Stuewer, editors Publisher Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, c1983 Description viii, 342 p. : ill. ; 24 cm ISBN 0816610878 : Language English Note Includes bibliographical references and index

Aris, Rutherford. Title An index of scripts for E.A. Lowe's Codices latini antiquiores / compiled by Rutherford Aris. Publisher Osnabr�ck : O. Zeller, 1982. Description 31 leaves ; 30 cm. ISBN 3535024145 Language English Subject Lowe, E. A. (Elias Avery), 1879-1969. Codices latini antiquiores -- Indexes.

Amundson, Neal Russell, 1916- Title The mathematical understanding of chemical engineering systems : selected papers of Neal R. Amundson / edited by Rutherford Aris and Arvind Varma. Publisher Oxford ; New York : Pergamon Press, 1980. Description x, 829 p., [1] leaf of plates : ill. ; 31 cm. ISBN 008023836X : Language English Note Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Aris, Rutherford. Title Mathematical modelling techniques / R. Aris Publisher London ; San Francisco : Pitman, 1978 Description 191 p. : ill. ; 25 cm Series Research notes in mathematics ;24 Language English Note Includes indexes Note Bibliography: p. 165-182

Aris, Rutherford. Title The mathematical theory of diffusion and reaction in permeable catalysts / by Rutherford Aris. Publisher Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1975. Description 2 v. : ill. ; 24 cm. ISBN 0198519311 (v. 1). 0198519427 (v. 2) Language English Note Includes indexes. Note Bibliography: v. 1, p. [387]-429; v. 2, p. [189]-209. Contents v. 1. The theory of the steady state.--v. 2. Questions of uniqueness, stability, and transient behaviour.

Aris, Rutherford. Title First-order partial differential equations with applications [by] Rutherford Aris [and] Neal R. Amundson. Publisher Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall [1973] Description 369 p. Series Mathematical methods in chemical engineering,v.2 Prentice-Hall international series in the physical and chemical engineering sciences. Language English Note Includes bibliography.

Strieder, William C., 1938- Title Variational methods applied to problems of diffusion and reaction [by] W. Strieder [and] R. Aris. Publisher Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, Springer, 1973. Description ix, 109 p. ill. 24 cm. Series Springer tracts in natural philosophy,24. Language English Note Bibliography: p.[97]-99.

Aris, Rutherford. Title Some aspects of optimal & adaptive control. Publisher [Nitro] West Virginia University--Kanawha Valley Graduate Center [1970] Description 52 p. illus. 23 cm. Series WVU-KVGC professional development lectures, v. 2, no. 1 Language English Note Includes bibliographical references.

Aris, Rutherford. Title Elementary chemical reactor analysis. Publisher Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall [1969] Description xii, 352 p. ill. 24 cm. Series Prentice-Hall international series in the physical and chemical engineering sciences Language English Note First published in 1965 under title: Introduction to the analysis of chemical reactors. Note Includes bibliographical references and index.

Aris, Rutherford. Title Elementary chemical reactor analysis : instructor' s manual. Publisher Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, c1969. Description 213 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. Language English

Amundson, Neal Russell, 1916- Title Mathematical methods in chemical engineering Publisher Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall [1966- Description v. illus. 24 cm Series Prentice-Hall International series in the physical and chemical engineering sciences ISBN 0135610923 (v.2) Language English Contents Contents:--[1] Matrices and their application.--v.2. First-order partial differential equations with applications.--v.3. Process modeling, estimation, and identification

Aris, Rutherford Title Introduction to the analysis of chemical reactors Publisher Englewood Cliffs, N. J., Prentice-Hall [1965] Description xi, 337 p. illus. 24 cm Series Prentice-Hall international series in the physical and chemical engineering sciences Language English Note Includes bibliographical references

Aris, Rutherford. Title Dynamic programming. Publisher [Dallas] Socony Mobil Oil Co., Field Research Laboratory [1965] Description 310 p. illus., port. 23 cm. Series Colloquium lectures in pure and applied science,no. 8, 1963 Language English Note Bibliographical references included in "Notes" (p. 302-310)

Aris, Rutherford Title Discrete dynamic programming; an introduction to the optimization of staged processes Publisher New York, Blaisdell [1964] Description 148 p. illus. 24 cm Language English Note Discrete Dynamic Programming is one of a series of brief books covering selected topics in the pure and applied sciences Note Includes bibliographies

Aris, Rutherford. Title Vectos, tensors, and the basic equations of fluid mechanics. Publisher Englewood Cliffs, N. J., Prentice-Hall, 1962. Description 286 p. illus. 24cm. Series Prentice-Hall international series in the physical and chemical engineering sciences. Language English Note Includes bibliography.

Aris, Rutherford. Title Vectors, tensors, and the basic equations of fluid mechanics. Publisher Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, 1962. Description 286 p. illus. 24 cm. Series Prentice-Hall international series in the physical and chemical engineering sciences Language English Note Includes bibliography.

Aris, Rutherford Title The optimal design of chemical reactors : a study in dynamic programming Publisher New York : Acadmic Press, 1961 Description 191 p. : ill Series Mathematics in science and engineering ;v.3 Language English Note Includes bibliography

American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Title Advances in computational and mathematical techniques in chemical engineering [by] Rutherford Aris [and others] Publisher New York, 1960. Description 120p. illus., diagrs., tables. 28cm. Series Chemical engineering progress symposium series,no.31 Language English Note Includes bibliographies.