William John Macquorn Rankine
(1820-1872)

William John Macquorn Rankine was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and taught engineering at Glasgow University. He derived the stress transformation equations in 1852 and made many other contributions to theory of elasticity and applied mechanics. His engineering subjects included arches, retaining walls, and structural theory. He also achieved scientific fame for his work with fluids, light, sound, and behavior of crystals.

From Mechanics of Materials, 4th Ed., by J.M. Gere and S.P. Timoshenko, PWS Publishing, 1997, pp. 835-42.