I strongly recommend reading these two papers about the recent loss of Ken L Johnson, FRS, Timoshenko Medallist, Gold Tribology Medal, who died the day of my 45th birthday, exactly twice as old.
Rod Smith Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society · August 2016 Kenneth Langstreth Johnson. 19 March 1925 — 21 September 2015 DOI: 10.1098/rsbm.2016.0012
You may remember that I promised some time ago to discuss each of the topics mentioned by Ken Johnson in his Timoshenko Medal speach. Here I take rail corrugation. Rail corrugation has been noticed at least for 100 years, but (particularly short pitch one in the range 20÷80 mm) has been considered an enigma because measured corrugation wavelength did not relate well with wear instabilitymodels.
Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of seeing a mechanics seminar delivered "tag-team" by Ken Johnson and Jim Greenwood. (I know several people have thought I was a bit mad for jumping "across the pond" but there are really some amazing benefits of being part of the Cambridge Engineering faculty!)
