The Franklin Institute have recognized accomplishments in science and technology since 1824, and awarded since then researchers such as  Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Pierre and Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Gordon Moore, among others.

This year, Prof. Adrian Bejan will be the recipient of the 2018 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Mechanical Engineering, for his work in this field, and thus especially for the development of Constructal Theory.

The Franklin Institute Awards Ceremony and Dinner will be held on Thursday, April 19, 2018.

References

• The Franklin Institute, Announcing The Franklin Institute Awards Class of 2018.
• Duke University, Bejan Named 2018 Franklin Institute Award Laureate, 7 Nov. 2017.
• The Inquirer, Franklin Institute to honor John Goodenough for work on battery used in cell phones, Eight scientists in all will receive awards in April, for work in such fields as genetics and climate change, 7 Nov. 2017.

This article in French, from the October publication of Science & Vie, provides an interview of professor Adrian Bejan regarding the views of Constructal theory on animal movements.

The article present also in greater details the theory of Ulrich Brose on maximal animal speed.

Reference

• Guépard, sa vitesse cache une théorie de la masse, Science & Vie, October 2017, pp. 75-77.

 In this recent article from Quartz, Ephrat Livni briefly reviews the global framework of Constructal theory, and interviews Adrian Bejan, with a specific focus on the application of his theory to social sciences.

References

• Ephrat Livni, Go with the flow, Everything, including the growing income disparity, can be explained by physics, Quartz, 23 Sept. 2017.

This french article has been published by Techniques de l’Ingénieur, and was written by Sylvie Lorente and Adrian Bejan.

The authors define and present the Constructal law as the law of physics that accounts for the natural tendency of all flow systems (animate or inanimate) to evolve into configurations that offer progressively greater flow access over time.

This article shows what make the Constructal law a part of thermodynamics, and that the domains covered by this new law of Physics are broad, ranging from fluid flows to heat and mass transfer.

Reference

• Adrian Bejan, Sylvie Lorente, La loi Constructale et sa place dans la thermodynamique, Techniques de l’Ingénieur, ref. BE8111 V1, 10 July 2017
• Academia.edu

 … but can it solve the problem ?

Jakky Kerubo interviews and discusses one of the last application of Constructal theory: explaining how income inequality happens… But this explanation is not the end game for Adrian Bejan, who is “working on the next question: how to make the distribution of assets less unequal. It involves regulation, but with greater non-monetary contribution from individuals“.

Sources

• Jakki Kerubo, Physics can describe how inequality happens—but can it solve the problem? Quartz, July 14, 2017
• Wealth inequality, the Physics basis, constructal.org, 29 March 2017

In this interview, Willem Larsen explores with Adrian Bejan what the Constructal Law can mean for a tracker, a subject he also further explored in several videos and interviews available online (cf. links here bellow).

In 2006, already A. Bejan and  D. Gobin opened this kind domain of research thanks to a paper focused on the explanation of droplet geometries: splashes vs. splats – with obvious links with forensics…

Links

• Radio interview, Design in Nature with Adrian Bejan, weaselbear and Garth, blogtalkradio.com/weaselbear
• Willem Larsen, The Science of Forensic Tracking (Forensic Flow System Analysis) – videos
• A. Bejan, D. Gobin, The constructal theory of droplet impact geometry, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 49, 2412-2419
• Adrian Bejan Keynote (video), The 2017 Thermodynamics of emotion symposium, People, Culture, and the Physics of Complex Living Systems October 13th-15th, 2017, in Portland, OR
• Interview of A. Bejan in Science & Vie magazine, Traqueurs de forme article.

This round table about “Design in Nature” took place Saturday, April 22nd, 2017 at 2:30pm, at the The Helix Center, NY.

Prof. Adrian Bejan was one the five participants, and exposed his views on this topic, on the basis of the constructal law of evolution in nature.

Sources

• Event: http://www.helixcenter.org/roundtables/design-in-nature/
• Video: http://www.helixcenter.org/videos/#/live/d1EUjQMgIMU