Morton Gurtin

Morton E. Gurtin is a mechanical engineer who became a mathematician and de facto mathematical physicist. He is an emeritus professor of mathematical sciences at Carnegie-Mellon University, where for many years he held an endowed chair as the Alumni Professor of Mathematical Science. His main work is in materials science, in the form of the mathematical, rational mechanics of non-linear continuum mechanics and thermodynamics, in the style of Clifford Truesdell and Walter Noll, a field also known under the combined name of continuum thermomechanics. He has published over 250 papers, many among them in Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis, as well as a number of books.

Gurtin received his Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1955), and a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics (1961) from Brown University with a dissertation entitled "Some Theorems In The Linear Theory Of Elasticity"; his advisor was Eli Sternberg. His experience prior to his stint at Brown University includes work as a structural engineer at Douglas Aircraft, Los Angeles, and at General Electric (Utica, N.Y.), in their Advanced Engineering Program.

He has taught at Brown University and joined the Department of Mathematical Sciences of Carnegie Mellon University as professor in 1966 where he held the Alumni Chair in Mathematical Sciences from 1992 until his retirement. He has successfully advised over 20 doctoral students.

Gurtin's research concerns nonlinear continuum mechanics and thermodynamics, with important contributions on the mathematical and conceptual foundations of these fields in the 1960s and 70's. Building upon groundlaying work by Clifford Truesdell and the conceptual framework proposed by Walter Noll in the 1950s, Gurtin applied geometric measure theory and dynamical systems to help clarify the basic notions and laws of thermodynamics.

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