SPEAKERS:
Ahmed F. Ghoniem: Ronald C. Crane (1972) Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Ghoniem's MechE website
Susan Hockfield: MIT President
Hockfield's MIT biography
George N. Hatsopoulos: Chairman, American DG Energy
Hatsopoulos at American DG
ABOUT THE LECTURE:
Joseph Henry Keenan, whom this symposium honors, died in 1977, but his groundbreaking work continues to influence the field of thermodynamics, as his colleagues, protégés and scientific descendants attest. Keenan’s efforts had practical outcomes, such as determining the properties of steam, which boosted the electric power industry. But as Ahmed Ghoniem says, Keenan’s exploration and reformulation of the laws of thermodynamics helped place this field in the center of such diverse, contemporary disciplines as the life sciences, energy, information, computation and the nanosciences. “The field has grown from a model of the heat engine to a set of fundamental principles that govern energy conversion in all forms.”
Keenan played a powerful role in MIT’s history as well, notes Susan Hockfield. In Keenan’s 40 years at the Institute, he served as a model teacher. He founded a school of thought and shaped the teaching and application of thermodynamics worldwide. His research “combined developing practical engineering tools with providing explanations of deep subtlety,” and he set a standard for academic leadership, heading the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the difficult post-Sputnik era.
To George Hatsopoulos, Keenan was “my mentor, my friend…His intuition was so unbelievably right; he always led me the right way.” Hatsopoulos shares personal anecdotes about Keenan’s rigorous thinking and precision with language, and offers two short video clips taken by Keenan’s daughter shortly before his death that reveal his method of inquiry. Hatsopoulos suggests that were Keenan alive, he would ask the symposium presenters and audience the following question: “Is entropy an intrinsic property of any system, whether microscopic or macroscopic, whether in a state of equilibrium or nonequilibrium? “
NOTES ON THE VIDEO (Time Index):
Video length is 0:55:08.
Ahmed Ghoniem opens the first session of the Keenan Symposium.
At 13:15, Ghoniem introduces Susan Hockfield.
At 14:13, Hockfield begins.
At 22:52, Ghoniem makes a few housekeeping remarks. He then introduces Phillip Sharp, Institute Professor, MIT, and 1993 Nobel Laureate.
At 25:46, Phillip Sharp introduces George Hatsopoulos.
At 30:33, George Hatsopoulos begins.
The information on this page was accurate as of the day the video was added to MIT World. This video was added to MIT World on 2007-11-15.
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