Adrian Bejan
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"Adrian Bejan" is an American professor who developed modern thermodynamics and the constructal law of design and evolution in nature. He is J. A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University.

He was born in Gala?i, a port town located on the Danube in Romania.

His mother, Marioara Bejan (1914–1998), was a pharmacist. His father, Dr. Anghel Bejan (1910–1976), was a veterinarian. Adrian Bejan showed an early talent in drawing, and his parents enrolled him in art school. He also excelled in basketball, which earned him a position on the Romanian national basketball team.

Adrian Bejan received all his degrees from MIT: BS 1971 (Honors Course), MS 1972 (Honors Course), and PhD in 1975, all from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology/MIT.

He was appointed full professor with tenure at Duke University in 1984. He was awarded the J.A. Jones distinguished professorship in 1989.

He has published 600 peer-reviewed articles and 28 books.

He pioneered numerous original methods in science, such as the Constructal theory/constructal law of design and evolution in nature, Non-equilibrium thermodynamics/entropy generation minimization, scale analysis of convection, heatlines and masslines, transition to turbulence, and designed porous media.

More Adrian Bejan on Wikipedia.

To run or fly at optimal speed is to strike a balance between the vertical and horizontal loss of energy.

The Earth with its solar heat input, heat rejection, and wheels of atmospheric and oceanic circulation, is a heat engine without [a] shaft. Its maximized mechanical power cannot be delivered, but is instead destined to dissipate through air and water friction and other forms of heat loss. It produces maximum power, which it then dissipates at a maximum rate.

The water can only go up because the bottom and sides of the channel are rigid. That bulge, however undetectable, is the fish's footprint.

Running, swimming and flying occur in vastly different physical environments and, likewise, involve quite different body mechanics. Nonetheless, there are strong convergences in certain functional characteristics of runners, swimmers and fliers.

It was swimming that stumped us. Everyone knows that, in water, fish are weightless.