Melvin Albert Prohl

Melvin Albert Prohl (October 28, 1915 - May 31, 2005) was an American mechanical engineer. An authority on mechanical vibration, he attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was employed by General Electric Company. Prohl made significant contributions to engineering practice particularly in the field of mechanical vibration. In recognition of his work he received the ASME Myklestad Award in 1999.
Biography
Mr. Prohl was born in Melrose, Massachusetts, USA on October 28, 1915. His parents were natives of Sweden. Melvin Prohl graduated from Melrose High School in 1933. He enrolled at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was one of the original MIT students to work in the cooperative program with General Electric. After graduation from MIT he became an Engineer in the Steam Turbine Division at GE.
In 1945, he published a numerical method for rotor vibration analysis: "A General Method for Calculating Critical Speeds of Flexible Rotors".
Rotordynamics. He also published a paper on turbine vibration in 1958. While working at General Electric, Prohl and his coworkers published papers on power control and vibration of steam ships.

They were also granted two patents, one in 1981 related to self-alinging bearings and another in 1985 concerning heat exchangers.
In 1999 The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME, honored his vibrations work by selecting Prohl as the recipient of the N O Myklestad Award. This honor is presented every two years in recognition of a major innovative contribution to vibration engineering.
M. A. Prohl retired from General Electric in 1980 but continued to work in the vibration field as an engineering consultant. An enthusiastic outdoorsman and lifelong member of the Appalachian Mountain Club, he enjoyed hiking and skiing with his children and grandchildren in the White Mountains and continued to do so until he was 80 years old.
Prohl lived in Boxford, Massachusetts for 40 years before moving to New London, New Hampshire in 2004. He died May 5, 2005 at age 89 in New London and was buried at Elkins Cemetery in Elkins, New Hampshire

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