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Liviu Librescu

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Dr. Liviu Librescu
File:Genpic.jpg
BornLiviu Librescu
August 18, 1930
Ploieşti, Kingdom of Romania
DiedApril 16, 2007(2007-04-16) (aged 76)
United States Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.
CitizenshipIsrael Israel
United States United States
Alma materPolytechnic University of Bucharest
Known forResearch in aeroelasticity and aerodynamics
Scientific career
FieldsEngineering
InstitutionsVirginia Tech
Tel Aviv University
Technion
WebsiteFaculty Profile

Liviu Librescu (August 18, 1930 – April 16, 2007; Template:Lang-he) was a Romanian born and educated Israeli-American scientist and academic whose major research fields were aeroelasticity and aerodynamics. His last academic position was Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Virginia Tech. He was a Holocaust survivor and was shot and killed in the Virginia Tech massacre while holding off the gunman at the entrance to his classroom so his students could escape through the windows.

Life and career

Liviu Librescu was born in 1930 to a Jewish family in the city of Ploieşti, Romania. After Romania allied with Nazi Germany in World War II, his father, Isidore Librescu, was deported to a labor camp in Transnistria (World War II region), and later his family, along with thousands of other Jews, were deported to a ghetto in the Romanian city of Focşani. Liviu as a boy was interned in a labor camp in Transnistria. Some sources report that he was taken to a Soviet labor camp. Speaking to Israeli Channel 10 TV the day after his death, his wife Marlena, who is also a Holocaust survivor, said, "We were in Romania during the Second World War, and we were Jews there among the Germans, and among the anti-Semitic Romanians." Speaking to BBC after his death, his son Joe said Liviu did not wish to talk much about that period of his life. Dorothea Weisbuch, a cousin of Librescu living in Romania, said in an interview to Romanian newspaper Cotidianul: "He was an extraordinarily gifted person and very altruist. When he was little, he was very curious and knew everything, so that I thought he would become very conceited, but it did not happen so; he was of a rare modesty."

Liviu Librescu survived the Holocaust, and was repatriated to Communist Romania and became an accomplished scientist. He studied aerospace engineering at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, graduating in 1952 and continuing with a master degree at the same university. He was awarded a Ph.D. in fluid mechanics in 1969 at the Academia de Ştiinţe din România. From 1953 to 1975, he worked as a researcher at the Bucharest Institute of Applied Mechanics, and later at the Institute of Fluid Mechanics and the Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Aerospace Constructions of the Academy of Science of Romania.

His career stalled in the 1970s because he refused to swear allegiance to the Communist Party of Romania and was forced out of academia for his sympathies towards Israel. When Librescu requested permission to emigrate to Israel, he was fired from his job. In 1976, a smuggled research manuscript that he had published in the Netherlands drew him international attention in the growing field of material dynamics.

After years of government refusal, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin personally intervened to get the Librescu family an emigration permit by directly asking Romanian President Nicolae Ceauşescu to let them go. They moved to Israel in 1978.

From 1979 to 1986, Librescu was Professor of Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering at Tel-Aviv University and taught at the Technion in Haifa. In 1985, he left on sabbatical for the United States, where he served as Professor at Virginia Tech in its Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics from September 1 1985 until his death. He served as a member on the editorial board of seven scientific journals and was invited as a guest editor of special issues of five other journals. Most recently, he was co-chair of the International Organizing Committee of the 7-th International Congress on Thermal Stress, Taipei, Taiwan, June 4, 2007 to 7, and was scheduled to give the invited keynote lecture there. According to his wife, no other Virginia Tech professor has ever published more articles than Librescu.

File:Liviu Librescu.jpg
Librescu in Israel for his grandson's bris in 2004.

Fields of research

Librescu's major fields of study included:

  • Foundation and applications of the modern theory of shells incorporating non-classical effects and composed of advanced composite materials
  • Foundation of the theory and applications of sandwich type structures
  • Aeroelastic stability of flight vehicle structures
  • Nonlinear aeroelasticity of structures in supersonic and hypersonic flow fields
  • Aeroelastic and structural tailoring
  • Dynamic response and instability of elastic and viscoelastic laminated composite structures subjected to deterministic and random loading systems
  • Mechanical and thermal postbuckling of flat and curved shear-deformable elastic panels
  • Static, dynamic and aeroelastic feedback control of adaptive structures
  • Unsteady aerodynamics and magnetoaerodynamics of supersonic flows with applications
  • Optimization problems of aeroelastic structural systems
  • Theory of composite thin-walled beams and its application in aeronautical and mechanical constructions
  • Response and behavior of structures to underwater and in-air explosions
  • Multifunctional and functionally graded material structures.

Death and legacy

Part of a series of articles
on the
Virginia Tech
shooting
A photo of one of the commemorative stones at the memorial with flowers laid on top of it.
Location
Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, Virginia)
Perpetrator
Seung-Hui Cho
Victims
Related

At age 76, Librescu was among the thirty-two people who were murdered in the Virginia Tech massacre. On April 16, 2007, Seung-Hui Cho entered Norris Hall Engineering Building and opened fire on classrooms. Librescu, who taught a solid mechanics class in Room 204 in the Norris Hall during April 2007, held the door of his classroom shut while Cho was attempting to enter it. Although he was shot through the door, Librescu prevented the gunman from entering the classroom until most of his students had escaped through the windows. He was struck by five bullets, with a shot to the head ending his life. Of the 23 registered students in his class, one, Minal Panchal, died.

A number of Librescu's students have called him a hero because of his actions. One student, Asael Arad, said that all the professor's students "lived because of him." Caroline Merrey, a senior, said she and about 20 other students scrambled through the windows as Librescu shouted for them to hurry. Merrey, previously seated in the rear of the room while next to the windows, stated that she was the third student to leave Norris 204. Merrey said that "I don’t think I would be here if it wasn't for ." Librescu's son, Joe, said he had received e-mails from several students who said he had saved their lives and regarded him as a hero while many newspapers also reported him as the hero of the massacre.

Following the murder of Librescu, his son Arieh contacted the Chabad movement to secure that his father's body would be treated according to Jewish law and that the body was released immediately for Jewish burial in Israel. With the assistance of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, the body was released on April 17 and brought to New York via police escort. On April 18, Librescu received a funeral service at a Jewish Orthodox funeral home in Borough Park, Brooklyn, New York City, New York and on April 20, he was interred in Israel. In his native Romania, his picture was placed on a table at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, and a candle was lit. People laid flowers nearby.

Marlena Librescu stated that her husband's favorite Jewish commandment was that Jews should light Shabbat candles. On Friday eve April 20 2007, the Chabad movement spearheaded a campaign to light Shabbat candles. Following the funeral, the Chabad on Campus Foundation announced their intention to establish a chapter in Librescu's name at Virginia Tech.

The murder took place on Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah). On April 18 2007 U.S. President George Bush honored Librescu at a memorial service held at the US Holocaust Museum to a crowd that included many Holocaust survivors:

That day we saw horror, but we also saw quiet acts of courage. We saw this courage in a teacher named Liviu Librescu. With the gunman set to enter his class, this brave professor blocked the door with his body while his students fled to safety. On the Day of Remembrance, this Holocaust survivor gave his own life so that others may live. And this morning we honor his memory and we take strength from his example.

Honors and awards

Librescu received many academic honors during his work in the Engineering Science and Mechanics Department at Virginia Tech, serving as chair or invited as a keynote speaker of several International Congresses on Thermal Stresses and receiving several honorary degrees. He was elected member of the Academy of Sciences of the Shipbuilding of Ukraine (2000) and Foreign Fellow of the Academy of Engineering of Armenia (1999). He was a recipient of Doctor Honoris Causa of the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest (2000), of the 1999 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research, College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, and a laureate of the Traian Vuia Prize of the Romanian Academy (1972). He was a member of the Board of Experts of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Scientific Research. He was awarded the Engineering Science and Mechanics Frank J. Maher Award for Excellence in Engineering Education (2005) and an ASME diploma (2005) expressing "deep appreciation for the valuable services in advancing the engineering profession".

Posthumously, Professor Librescu was commended by Traian Băsescu, the President of Romania, with the Order of the Star of Romania with the rank of Grand Cross, "as a sign of high appreciation and gratitude for the entire scientific and academic activity, as well as for the heroism shown in the course of the tragic events which took place on April 16th, 2007, through which he saved the lives of his students, sacrificing his own life."

Publications

This is a partial list of books that Librescu authored:

  • Librescu, Liviu (2006). Thin-walled composite beams: Theory and Application. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer. ISBN 9781402034572. OCLC 62363828. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Cederbaum, G. (1992). Random Vibrations and Reliability of Composite Structures. Lancaster-Basel: Technomic Publishing Co. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Librescu, Liviu (1976). Elastostatics and Kinetics of Anisotropic and Heterogeneous Shell-Type Structures. Leyden: Noordhoff International. ISBN 9789028600355. OCLC 2092328.
  • Librescu, Liviu (1969). Statica şi dinamica structurilor elastice anizotrope şi eterogene (in Romanian). Bucharest: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România. OCLC 17866878.

See also

References

  1. Barbara Slavin. Professor who 'did not fear death' likely saved students, USA TODAY
  2. Raymond Hernandez. Victims of Shooting Are Remembered, New York Times April 17 2007
  3. ^ Liviu Librescu's Curriculum Vitae
  4. Laurie Copans. Holocaust survivor among those killed. Daily Herald, April 17 2007
  5. ^ Matti Friedman. Holocaust survivor killed in Va shooting. Associated Press, April 17, 2007
  6. ^ Liviu Librescu: One victim of the Virginia massacre left an incomparable legacy, The Times, April 18, 2007
  7. Template:Ro icon Claudia Ciobanu, Diana Lazar, Cosmin Popan, Iuliana Gatej. Eroul român de la Virginia Tech, Cotidianul, 18 April 2007
  8. Template:Ro icon "Profesorul-erou, inventator şi reputat om de ştiinţă", in Evenimentul Zilei, April 17, 2007
  9. Israeli Professor Tried to Save Students' Lives, CNS News, April 17, 2007
  10. Jeffrey Brainard and Matthew Kalman. Profiles of the Slain. Liviu Librescu, The Chronicle of Higher Education. April 17, 2007
  11. ^ Yitzhak Benhorin. Israeli killed in Virginia massacre. Ynetnews, April 17, 2007
  12. "Virginia Tech: In Memorium: April 16th 2007", Virginia Tech.
  13. ^ Liviu Librescu - Faculty profile at the Virginia Tech Department of Engineering and Mechanics website
  14. Virginia Tech Engineering Science and Mechanics Schedule for Spring 2007
  15. ^ The Victims. NY Times. April 18 2007
  16. Virginia Tech Tragedy CBS News
  17. Israeli lecturer died shielding Virginia Tech students from gunman, Haaretz, April 17 2007
  18. Donovan, Doug. "'I don't think my teacher got out'". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
  19. David Maraniss. That Was the Desk I Chose to Die Under. Washington Post, April 19 2007
  20. ^ Colin Moynihan. Professor’s Violent Death Came Where He Sought Peace. New York Times, April 19 2007
  21. David Maraniss. Pop, pop, then panic. Washington Post/St. Petersburg Times, April 19 2007.
  22. Asian the killer and some victims in the Virginia Tech massacre, Asia News, April 17 2007, accessed April 17 2007.
  23. "Liviu Librescu: Holocaust survivor blocked shooter, letting students flee". The Roanoke Times. April 27 2007.
  24. Aaron Kessler. Professor's body laid to rest in Israel. Media General News Service. April 21 2007
  25. Ben Winograd. Lecturer Killed Saving Students at Virginia Tech Buried in Israel. Associated Press, April 20 2007
  26. Preparations For The Sabbath (torah.org) Shulkhan Arukh. Part I: Orach Chayim. Chapter 17
  27. Haviv Rettig. Israeli who saved Virginia students buried as hero. The Jerusalem Post, April 20-April 22 2007
  28. Yaakov Katz. Hundreds attend service for Holocaust survivor, VT hero USA Today, April 20 2007
  29. Yitzhak Benhorin. Bush honors Israeli professor killed in Virginia Tech shooting Yediot Aharonot (Ynet) April 18 2007]
  30. Press release of the Romanian President announcing Liviu Librescu's post-mortem commendation, Department for Public Communication, Office of the President of Romania.
  31. Publication list for Liviu Librescu, Virginia Tech Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics website, accessed April 17 2007. Note: All books referenced by this citation.

External links

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