Oct. 12, Robert Mark, “Structural Studies of Historic Buildings”

Robert Mark

Professor of Architecture & Civil Engineering Emeritus at Princeton University, Robert Mark pioneered the application of modern engineering modeling to the study of historic buildings. His engineering career has been mainly directed to developing optical modeling techniques (photoelasticity and holographic interferometry) that he applied to analysis and design of complex aerospace, deep-undersea, nuclear- and thermo-nuclear-power structures. He served as technical editor of the Journal of the Society of Experimental Mechanics and is a Fellow of the Society. Mark was recipient of the first senior fellowship awarded to an engineer by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and has also been awarded NSF and Guggenheim fellowships. He founded, and chaired from 1974-1990, the Princeton Program in Architecture and Engineering.
In addition to well over a hundred refereed publications on applications of engineering modeling and studies of historic building structures, ranging from ancient Roman to the Gothic and Renaissance, he has authored four books including Light, Wind, and Structure (MIT Press, 1990), winner of the AIA International Publication Award. Mark’s research on historic structures has also been widely reported on in periodicals that include American Scientist, Discover, Der Spiegel, Life, Science & Vie, and Scientific American, and in two nationally broadcast programs by PBS: “The Mystery of the Master Builders” on Nova and “The Cathedral Engineers” on The Nature of Things.

Sponsored by Cromwell for the Charles Thompson Memorial Lecture.

Paris