Chia-Shun Yih

Chia- Shun Yih (* 1918 in Kweiyang, Kweichow Province, China; † April 25, 1997 in Tokyo ) was an American engineer scientist who dealt with hydrodynamics.

Yih began his studies during the turmoil of the Japanese occupation in China at the hinterland evacuated National Central University (originally in Nanking ) with the conclusion of 1941. Afterwards he worked in hydraulic laboratory in Guanxian, bridge office in Guizhou ( Kweichow ) and at the University of of Guizhou. In 1945 he went as one of 42 throughout China by studies selected students to the United States at the University of Iowa, where he received his doctorate in 1948. In 1949 he married - from the marriage were born two sons and a daughter. He taught at various universities in the U.S. and France before becoming associate professor in 1956 went to the University of Michigan, where he became in 1958 professor of hydrodynamics. In 1967 he was there, Stephen P. Timoshenko Distinguished University Professor and in 1974 he held the Henry Russel Lecture. In 1988 he retired, but remained scientifically active.

In 1985 he received the hydrodynamics Prize of the American Physical Society, the 1989 Otto Laporte Award and 1981 Von Karman medal. He was also awarded the Humboldt Research Award (1977 /78) and was Guggenheim Fellow (1964). He was a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the National Academy of Engineering and a member of the Academia Sinica.

He spoke fluent German and French. As a hobby, he was sealing artists.

Writings

• Dynamics of nonhomogeneous fluids, Macmillan, 1960 ( Reprint as: Stratified Flows, 2nd Edition, Academic Press, 1980)
• Fluid Mechanics: a concise introduction to the theory, McGraw Hill, 1969 ( reissue West River Press, Ann Arbor 1977)