Page 44 - Spring 2010

Rongjue Wei
1916–2010
Dr. Rongjue Wei, a distinguished honorary member of Chinese Academy of Science, honorary president of the Acoustical Society of China, and Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America passed way on 6 April 2010 in Nanjing China.
Dr. Wei graduated from Jinling
University in 1937. After teaching
physics at a high school and then at
Nanjing University, he went to the U.S. in
1945 to further pursue his education. He
received a master’s degree at the
University of Chicago in 1947 and a
Ph.D. at the University of California, Los
Angeles, in 1950, both in Physics. When
Dr. Wei returned to China in 1951, he
became the Chairperson of the Physics
Department at Nanjing University. In
1954 he founded the first acoustics laboratory in China and was later appointed the founding director of the Institute of
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) has lost one of its most loyal and steadfast members. After enduring a lifetime of pain and hardship basically stemming from scol- iosis, Van Holliday passed away in San Diego on 4 February 2010. He is survived by his wife, Mary Elizabeth (Beth), their three daughters, Kathy, Karen and Christy, and several grandchildren. He was known for humility and devotedness to family and faith.
Born and raised in Texas,
Van received his B.S. and M.S.
degrees from the University of
Texas and his Ph.D. from the
Diego—all in physics. Following research on pipeline gas delivery systems, he quickly homed in on plankton and larval fish bioacoustics for which he became a distinguished researcher, mentor, and world leader. Alone or together with long term associates such as Rick Pieper, University of Southern California; coworker, Charles Greenlaw; and a host of other colleagues including the writer, Van had published over 250 peer-reviewed articles, abstracts, and technical reports while employed by Tracor and BAE Systems for over
Acoustics of Nanjing University. His research areas included atmospheric acoustics, linguistics, molecular, quan- tum, nonlinear, and low-temperature acoustics and he won many awards in China for his work.
Dr. Wei often visited the U.S. and established close relationships with many well-known acousticians in the U.S. including David Blackstock, Leo Beranek, Floyd Dunn, Seth Putterman and late Professors Isadore Rudnick, Robert Apfel, and Mack Breazeale.
Dr. Wei was considered a pioneer of acoustics research and education in China. His students continue his legacy in China and the U.S.A. He is survived by his wife, Zhangmin Tang and two daughters Yihua and Lanhua Wei.
Junru Wu, University of Vermont Xiufen Gong, Nanjing University
40 years. He specifically pio- neered the development of unique array systems and their application toward three dimensional analyses of target strength measurements of marine stocks. Much of his discovery was based on ardu- ous firsthand sea trials in northern Pacific and Atlantic waters.
Having served on numer- ous committees and working groups, Van Holliday was an ASA Fellow and recipient of ASA’s Silver Medal in Acoustical Oceanography. He received one of the U.S. Navy’s highest awards for meritori-
ous service in “applying his extensive background in pure and applied acoustics” with “new technology instrumenta- tion to study and measure life at trophic levels in the marine ecosystem ranging from marine mammals and fish to marine zooplankton.” The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) honored Van’s accomplishments by naming a research vessel, the R/V D.V. Holliday. A sea mount in the Bering Sea is named Mount Holliday. He frequently traveled and advised foreign nations, such as Denmark and Norway, while organizing or participating in scientific collo-
Dale Vance Holliday
1940–2010
40 Acoustics Today, April 2010
University of California, San