Background
Warner Tjardus Koiter was born in Amsterdam.
Warner Tjardus Koiter was born in Amsterdam.
Delft University of Technology.
After primary and secondary education, he enrolled into Delft University of Technology in 1931, graduating with honours as a mechanical engineer in 1936. After graduation, he worked at the Dutch National Aeronautical Research Institute (NLL) in Amsterdam to work on airworthiness checking of aircraft structures. In 1938, he moved to the Government Patent Office and in 1939, he joined the Government Civil Aviation Office.
During the war, he worked at NLL on subjects of his own choice.
The thesis was written in Dutch, since the occupying forces only allowed theses to be written in either German or Dutch. As a consequence, its contents became only known to the broad scientific community after an English translation was edited by National Aeronautics and Space Administration 15 years later.
In 1949, he was appointed Professor of Applied Mechanics in Delft, where he stayed until his retirement in 1979. Koiter is primarily known for his asymptotic theory of initial post-buckling stability.
Koiter is primarily known for his asymptotic theory of initial post-buckling stability. Other contributions are in linear and non-linear thin shell theory, plasticity, elasticity and accompanying mathematics. One of his contributions on the "best" linear thin shell theory got the title "All you need is Love". He published approximately 150 reports and papers. He was awarded the Von Karman medal by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Timoshenko Medal by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He obtained honorary doctorates from Universities of Leicester, Glasgow, Bochum, and Ghent. He was a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences since 1959, the Royal Society, and National Academy of Engineering (National Academy of Engineering). In 1996, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers instated the Warner T. Koiter medal for achievements in solid mechanics, and awarded him the first one in 1997.
These investigations led to his Doctor of Philosophy thesis, On the Stability of Elastic Equilibrium, which was defended in Delft, November 1945. lieutenant was supervised by C. B. Biezeno.
Royal Society; German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]
He was a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences since 1959, the Royal Society, and National Academy of Engineering (National Academy of Engineering).