Active 1965-1989

Dr. William Nachbar was born April 25, 1923 in Brooklyn, New York, the eldest of three sons. He graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx in 1940 and then from Cornell University in 1944. He served in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946. In 1948, he completed a master’s degree in mathematics at the Courant Institute of New York University. He then enrolled in the Ph.D. program in applied mathematics at Brown University, receiving his degree in 1951. While at Brown, he met Pauline Mann, who was in the same program. They married in 1952 after she completed her Ph.D.

After Brown University, his first job was at Boeing as a Research Specialist and Senior Mathematical Analyst where he worked on the Boeing 707, the first jet airliner to be widely adopted. He then joined a Lockheed research laboratory where he worked on the rocket engine of Polaris, the first ballistic missile designed to be launched from a submerged submarine. In 1961, Dr. Nachbar left Lockheed to join Stanford University’s faculty.   

In 1965, Dr. Nachbar moved to UC San Diego as professor of applied mechanics in the newly established Revelle College. After 24 years at UC San Diego, he retired from the university. 

Dr. Nachbar is known for his contributions to the study of combustion and to the study of structural mechanics, particularly the theory of shell structures. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1967. He was a member of the American Mathematical Society, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Combustion Institute. Outside of his professional career, he enjoyed camping, fly fishing, snorkeling, Mozart, opera, science fiction, and terrible science fiction movies.  

Dr. William Nachbar passed away in 2005 and is survived by his wife Pauline, his son John and his wife Suzanne Yee, and their daughter Katherine and her husband Martin Leff.