Review of Hydraulicians in Europe 1800–2000, a Biographical Dictionary of Leaders in Hydraulic Engineering and Fluid Mechanics by Willi H. Hager: International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research (IAHR), Delft, The Netherlands; 2003; ISBN 90-805649-5-8; 774 pp. Price: ∼$150.00 (€110.00).

Hydraulic engineering has a long history of success deeply rooted in Europe. This IAHR Monograph is presented as a biographical dictionary to celebrate the lives and accomplishments of leaders in hydraulic engineering and fluid mechanics. The scope of work is geographically bound to Europe and clearly delineates a period of 200 years from 1800–2000.

The format of this book is simple with a single page for each featured hydraulician containing the following information: (1) dates and location of birth and death; (2) professional career, including university degrees and professional achievements and recognition; (3) main contributions to fluid mechanics and hydraulics, and awards obtained from academic and professional institutions; and (4) relevant references including best papers, and additional bibliographical information. There is a photograph or portrait of just about every single hydraulician. With the assistance of key collaborators in most European countries, this collection of brief biographical sketches for 685 European scientists and hydraulic engineers certainly turned a daunting task into a remarkable achievement.

This book constitutes a unique source of information on those who have made landmark contributions to our field. The author has preferred a national order of presentation rather than alphabetical order. This presentation by country highlights some of the interactions between scientists and hydraulicians, and emphasizes national laboratories and institutional support available at different periods of time. There is a complete alphabetical index of people at the end of the book.

In a very attractive single-page format, the biographical sketches are extremely informative and vibrant. It is enlightening to read brief biographies of Navier, Stokes, Froude, Reynolds, Saint-Venant, Prandtl, Schlichting, etc. This dictionary allows one to follow the development of ideas and the emergence of top academic institutions in Europe during that time period. The book contains primarily facts and references, and does not provide an integrated view of the developments in the field. There is ample reference to the stars of the profession for additional reading.

It is interesting that hydraulics is presented is a broad context to incorporate mechanics of fluids and gases, engineering mechanics, hydrology, groundwater, coastal engineering, etc. The biographical sketches shed light on the high cultural level of our predecessors. Most hydraulicians have published their work in several languages and worked in close association with physicists and mathematicians, sometimes reaching as far as celestial mechanics. This book allows direct cross reference between scientists of different countries like Hagen and Poiseuille, and the association between Navier, Poisson, Saint-Venant and Stokes.

Out of 685 hydraulicians, there were only two women, both from Russia, and this is certainly a tremendous call for improvement in this new millennium. I have long considered the book of Polubarinova-Kochina equivalent to Lamb’s famous treatise. It is amazing to learn that she lived to be 100 and that she returned to teach at Moscow University in her seventies, when I was a student. This is the kind of information that makes this book so unique and captivating.

Some of the suggestions that came to mind regarding possible improvements of this dictionary would be an extension to the pre-1800 era. For instance, the contributions of Archimedes, Euler, and Da Vinci may not require many pages and yet add significantly to its completeness. Also perhaps, an abbreviated version that compiles only the top 100 contributions would make a popular paperback edition affordable to all students. Somehow, an alphabetical order may have been preferable considering the ever changing geopolitical landscape in Europe, e.g., Balkans and former Soviet Republics.

In summary, the author must be complimented for this monumental scholarly work. For generations to come, this monograph will be useful to all those interested in getting to know the people behind the hydraulic engineering scene. At a cost of about $150, this monograph is likely to be more appealing to libraries, historians, and university professors. An abbreviated paperback version of the most significant contributions may eventually gain popularity among students and hydraulic engineers.