Page 56 - Fall 2011

Passings Dick Stern 1150 Linden Hall Road Boalsburg, Pennsylvania 16827 Wesley L. Nyborg, a biophysicist who made profound contributions to our understanding of ultrasound, died on September 24, 2011 at age 94. He obtained his A.B. in 1941 from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and his M.S. and Ph.D. in physics at Pennsylvania State University in 1944 and 1947, respectively. He was an Assistant and Associate Professor at Brown University from 1950 to 1960, and since 1960 was a Professor and then an Emeritus Professor of physics at the University of Vermont. Wes’s career was devoted to bio- physical acoustics, first at low frequen- cies and since the early 50’s primarily at ultrasonic frequencies of biomedical interest. His early work established a basis for much of our current knowl- edge of non-thermal mechanisms by which ultrasound inter- acts with biological materials. He developed the theoretical basis of acoustic streaming, and he extended his work to investigating ultrasonically induced fluid flow and particle movements. His research included important problems in sound propagation in scattering and absorbing media, heat production in an ultrasound beam, ultrasonic cavitation, and the mechanisms responsible for biological effects of ultra- sound. Wes made many contributions to medical ultrasound safety and therapy. During his career as an educator, Wes guided and inspired many students of physics and biophysics. He devel- oped a unique course of study in biophysics which he taught for many years and which resulted in publication of the text- book Intermediate Biophysical Mechanics in 1975. Later, he co-edited a textbook with Marvin Ziskin in 1985 entitled Biological Effects of Ultrasound. In 1984 he was named “University Scholar in Physical Sciences” at the University of Vermont. Wes was highly regarded by scien- tists and organizations. He was a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He served on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Biological Physics, Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, Ultrasonics, and Clinics in Diagnostic Ultrasound. He was the author of many chapters in sci- entific books and published many papers in scholarly journals. Wes was active in the American Institute of Ultrasound (AIUM) where he was the Chairman of the Bioeffects Committee for a num- ber of years. He played a major role in producing a number of official statements for AIUM pertaining to ultrasound safety. He continued the safety effort within the NIH Diagnostic Radiology Study Section during his tenure with that important federal advisory panel. He received the AIUM Presidential Recognition Award in 1977, its Pioneer Award in 1985, and its Fry Memorial Lecture Award in 1990. Wes was also active in the Acoustical Society of America and served on the Executive Council from 1965-1968. He was awarded the ASA Interdisciplinary Silver Medal in Physical Acoustics and Bioresponse to Vibration in 1990. From 1992-2002, Wes was chairman of ASA Standards Working Group 22, which produced the ANSI Technical Report on Bubble Detection and Cavitation Monitoring. For 22 years Wes was the Chairman of the National Wesley L. Nyborg 1917 – 2011 Acoustics Today accepts contributions for “Passings.” Submissions of about 250 words that may be edited in MSWord or plain text files should be e-mailed to AcousticsToday@aip.org. Photographs may be informal, but must be at least 300 dpi. Please send the text and photographs in separate files. Passings 55