Durand, William Frederick, 1859-1958

Professor and head of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stanford University, 1904-1924, Durand was most known for his aeronautical research.

Biographical/Historical note

Frank Oakes Ellenwood was born November 10, 1878 in Little Hocking, Ohio. In 1904 he received the degree of A.B. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, and in 1922 the degree of Mechanical Engineer, also from Stanford University. In 1911 he went to Cornell University as an assistant professor of heat-power engineering after serving as an instructor of mechanical engineering at Stanford from 1908 to 1911. In 1915 he was made Professor of Heat-Power Engineering; in 1940 he was made head of that department, and in 1941 he was appointed John Edson Sweet Professor of Engineering. He died in Rochester, New York, on September 7, 1947.

Biography

William F. Durand, known as the Dean of American engineering, joined the Stanford University faculty in 1904, serving as professor and head of the Mechanical Engineering Department until his retirement at age 65 in 1924; he held the position of Professor Emeritus until 1958.

Durand, a 1880 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, began his teaching career at Michigan State College in 1887; in 1891 he joined the Cornell University faculty, teaching in the School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.

Although his early research was in marine engineering, Durand was best known for his contributions to the science of aeronautics, specifically the development of the first variable pitch propeller. He was an original member of the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, serving from 1915 to 1933, and again during World War II, when he helped organize the work being done on jet propulsion.

Durand was professionally active well into his 80s. After his retirement from Stanford, he continued his research on airplane propellers, making use of Stanford's wind tunnel. He served several terms as president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Sigma Xi. He was a member of a federal advisory board concerned with the Colorado River and Hoover Dam; and he worked with the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics