Frocht, Max Mark, 1894-1974

Max Mark Frocht was an educator and researcher in experimental mechanics. He was an authority on photoelasticity, a method used to visualize stress distribution in materials. Photoelastic methods are used in engineering for the observation of stress on structures and machine parts. Frocht's two-volume work, Photoelasticity, is a classic text in the field.

A student of Steven Timoshenko, Frocht received his Ph.D. from University of Michigan in 1931. He worked at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, and was an important early member of the Society for Experimental Stress Analysis (now the Society for Experimental Mechanics). From 1946 to 1960, Frocht worked in the Department of Mechanics at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he directed the Laboratory for Experimental Stress Analysis.

Frocht became an honorary member of the Society for Experimental Mechanics (SEM) in 1959. SEM also created the annual M.M. Frocht Award "to honor "outstanding achievement as an educator in the field of experimental mechanics."

From the guide to the Frocht, Max Mark. Papers, circa 1930s-1964, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)