Society of Rheology

Society of Rheology
Name	Society of Rheology
Founded	1929
Headquarters	United States
Fields	Rheology, Fluid Mechanics, Polymer Science

Society of Rheology is a professional organization dedicated to the study of rheology and the properties of materials under deformation, founded in 1929. The society connects researchers and practitioners across disciplines such as Polymer Science, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, Mechanical Engineering and Colloid and Surface Chemistry, while interacting with institutions like the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Physical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the National Academy of Sciences.

History

The society was established in 1929 amid growing interest from figures associated with Eastman Kodak, General Electric, DuPont, University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reflecting contemporaneous advances by researchers connected to Osborne Reynolds, Sir Geoffrey Taylor, Ludwig Prandtl, Albert Einstein, and James Clerk Maxwell. Early meetings drew attendees from organizations such as American Society of Mechanical Engineers, British Rheologists' Club, Society of Chemical Industry, Carnegie Institution for Science, and Bell Telephone Laboratories, and paralleled developments in work by Ilya Prigogine, Paul Lévy, G. I. Taylor, H. A. Barnes, and Bernhard Stookey. Over decades the society’s evolution intersected with milestones at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and academic programs at Stanford University, Harvard University, and University of Cambridge.

Mission and Activities

The society promotes research, education, and application of rheology through partnerships with entities like National Science Foundation, European Research Council, Royal Society, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. It organizes technical committees and topical groups that liaise with American Chemical Society, Society for Tribology and Lubrication Engineers, Institute of Physics, Society for Experimental Mechanics, and American Society for Testing and Materials. Activities include standards development in coordination with International Organization for Standardization, outreach to museums such as the Smithsonian Institution, and support for student chapters at universities including California Institute of Technology, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Princeton University, and Yale University.

Membership and Organization

Membership spans professionals affiliated with institutions like ExxonMobil, BASF, 3M Company, Procter & Gamble, Shell plc, and academia including University of Oxford, Columbia University, Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, and Tokyo Institute of Technology. Governance comprises an elected board and officers with ties to organizations such as American Society for Engineering Education, International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and regional societies like the British Society of Rheology and Società Italiana di Reologia. Committees coordinate awards, education, standards, and outreach with collaborators such as European Society of Rheology, Korean Society of Rheology, Chinese Society of Rheology, Australian Society of Rheology, and Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering.

Publications and Conferences

The society publishes peer-reviewed content and proceedings that complement journals like Journal of Rheology, Rheologica Acta, Macromolecules, Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, and Polymer. It issues newsletters and technical monographs used by researchers at MIT Press, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Springer Nature, and Elsevier. Annual and topical meetings are held alongside conferences such as American Physical Society March Meeting, ACS National Meeting, AIChE Annual Meeting, International Congress on Rheology, and symposia at Gordon Research Conferences and MRS Fall Meeting, attracting delegates from National Institutes of Health, European Space Agency, NASA, CERN, and World Health Organization.

Awards and Honors

The society confers awards recognizing achievements comparable to honors from National Medal of Science, Enrico Fermi Award, Priestly Medal, Bingham Medal, Harrison Howe Award, and international prizes from Royal Society and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. Prize categories celebrate contributions in experimental rheology, theoretical rheology, industrial application, and service, with ceremonies attended by representatives of National Academy of Engineering, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and corporate honorees from Dow Chemical Company and Bayer AG.

Notable Members and Leadership

Notable members and leaders have included scientists and engineers who also held roles or produced work associated with Lionel Cohen (physicist), Osborne Reynolds, Albert Einstein, G. I. Taylor, Ludwik Leibler, Bradley D. Fahlman, Norman J. Wagner, Jan Mewis, R. Byron Bird, Victor H. Ducker, John M. Dealy, Michael Cates, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, Sir Geoffrey Taylor, Paul C. Hiemenz, Edwin R. Gilliland, Herman F. Mark, Wallace H. Coulter, Ernest C. Guthrie, Rudolf Höppler, Tokihiro Yamaguchi, Masao Doi, Keith Walters, Reinhard Hütter, Eugene C. Bingham, Herbert A. Barnes, Jan Vermant, George W. Scherer, Alan G. Thomas, Howard A. Stone, Richard Larson, L. D. Landau, Lev Landau, Tobias Adrian, Kurt Binder, John F. Brady, Samuel S. Hunter, Carl T. Herakovich, Adrian C. Michaelides, Raymond L. Spelce, Peter J. Colver, David A. Weitz, Sir Christopher Ingold, Richard C. Flagan.

Category:Scientific societies