Obituary: Professor George George Winter, emeritus professor of structural engineering at Cornell Umversxty m Ithaca, New York, dxed suddenly on 3 November 1982

Professor Winter's professional career spanned over more than half a century, and he was actwely parhcl- paring m professmnal tasks up to the day of his death He was born m Vienna, and he obtamed his engineering education in the Techmcal Umversltles of V~enna, Stuttgart and Munich During the 1930s he worked m Russm as a design engineer and as a teacher In 1939 he came as a doctoral student to CorneU Unwerslty, startmg an association with that mstltutton and with this country which lasted for the remaining 43 years of his hfe

The last half century was undoubt- edly the most excltmg and creative period in the history of science and technology, and our profession of structural engineering also experienced an unprecedented growth m know- ledge and m the apphcatlons of th~s knowledge The roots of thts advance are found In education and m research Professor Winter's ~mpact on these advances is mdeed great From Cornell, as a teacher, as long-tune chatrman of the Department of Structural Engm- eermg (21 years), and as a writer of textbooks, he exerted an influence on structural engineering educatmn which

Winter extended far beyond the borders of the Umted States. Thts is particularly ewdent m the accomphshments of his former graduate students who carry on the ideas and the ~deals of excel- lence which they learned from him. Through his efforts m teaching and selecting colleagues, Cornell became one of the freest and best centres of structural englneermg educatmn m the world

Has research, which encompassed most aspects of structural engmeermg but especmlly work m basic material properties of construction matenals, m structural mstabdlty and in struc- tural design, emphasized basxc funda- mentals in simple ways He was fully aware of the mterrelatmnshlps be- tween theory and experiment, and he always brought his research into a form which was apphcable by design engineers This writer is most famdmr with hts work on stability theory and on hxs umque and almost single- handed efforts m formulatmg ratmnal and practically apphcable design criteria for cold-formed steel structures

Professor Winter's behef that educatmn and research should bear frmt m the practical arena brought hun into yet another area of impor- tant actwlty, that of structural design speclflcatmns It is here that he made

his largest impact on the practice of structural engmeermg His hfe-long involvement wxth the American Iron and Steel Instltute's specfilcatxon for cold-formed steel structures made these a standard which served as a model for the whole world. His influence on other specfflcatlons, especmlly on the codes of the American Concrete Institute and the American Institute of Steel Construction, was also instrumental m bnngmg research results to bear on practice

As a human being Professor Wmter was a man of deep convictions, devoted friendships, and selfless service. Thxs writer had the prlvdege of collaborating with him m numerous actwltles through the past 20 or so years, mainly through the Structural Stability Research Councd, and it was always a pleasure to interact w~th hun, both on a personal and a tech- nical level

This writer feels a keen personal loss at the death of Professor Winter A great man, a free engineer and an excellent teacher has passed away However, his personahty and his work have left a mark m our specml field of technology which will be felt for many, many years yet

7". V. Galambos

CALENDAR 4-6 May 1983

Breakwaters" design and construction London, UK Conference Office, Insti tution of Civil Engineers, 1-7 Great George Street, London SW1P 3AA, UK

9-11 May 1983

Third international colloquium on stability of metal structures Toronto, Ontario, Canada Secretary, Structural Stablhty Research Councd, Fritz Engineering Laboratory, Lehigh University, Bethleham BA 18015, USA

9-12 May 1983

Third South Pacific regional conference on earthquake engineering Welhngton, New Zealand The Administrative Secretary, New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering, PO Box 243, Welhngton, New Zealand

16-20 May 1983 Euromech colloquium: flexible shells, theory and applications Munehen - Neubiberg, West Germany Professor Dr E. L Axelrad, Institut fur Mechandc, Hochschule der Bundeswehr Munchen 8014, Munchen - Neubtberg, West Germany

23-25 May 1983

ASCE EMD speciality conference West Lafayette, Indtana, USA Professor W F. Chen, Chairman 1983 ASCE EMD Speclahty Conference, School of Cwd Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA

30 May-2 June 1983 Ship collision with bridges and offshore structure Copenhagen, Denmark IABSE Secretariat, ETH-Honggerberg, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland

June 1983 Current trends and results in plasticity Udme, Italy CISM-Symposmm - Plasticity today, lhazza Garibaldi 18, 33100 Udlne, Italy

6-10 June 1983 Integration of ecological aspects in coastal engineering projects Rotterdam, The Netherlands Secretariat G Delft Hydrauhcs Laboratory, Pubhc Relations Department, PO Box 177, 2600 MH Delft, The Netherlands

13-14 June 1983 European conference on environ-. mental pollution London, UK Dr Vijay Mohan Bhatnagar, Alena Enterprises of Canada, PO Box 1779, Cornwall, Ontario K6H 5V7, Canada

Eng. Struct., 1983, Vol. 5, Aprd 151