Milton Van Dyke
1923-May 10, 2010
Stanford, California

Milton Van Dyke, 87, a former Stanford professor, died May 10, 2010. He was born in Chicago, Ill. He studied engineering at Harvard University and worked for the newly created NACA Ames Laboratory in Mountain View during World War II.

He received his master's and doctorate in the aeronautics department of Caltech and then continued his work with NACA for some years. He taught at the University of Paris in France and accepted a professor position at Stanford in 1959.

He met his future wife, Sylvia in 1961 and married her in 1962 at the Stanford Memorial Church. His landmark textbook "Perturbation Methods in Fluid Mechanics" was published in 1964. In 1982 he published "An Album of Fluid Motion." Colleagues and loved ones recall not only his intellectual achievements but also his kindness, modesty and wit.

He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Syliva; his sons Russell (wife Nadiene)of New Orleans, La., Eric (wife Martha) of Portland, Ore., Brooke (wife Amber) of Minneapolis, Minn., Byron (wife Lily) of Redding, Ca., and Christopher of Denver, Colo.; daughter Nina (husband Dean) of Melbourne, Australia; and nine grandchildren.

Tags: teacher/educator