John Ffowcs Williams

John Ffowcs Williams
Born
Shôn Eirwen Ffowcs Williams

(1935-05-25)25 May 1935
Wales
Died12 December 2020(2020-12-12) (aged 85)
Spouse
Anne Mason
(m. 1959)
AwardsSir Frank Whittle Medal (2002)
Academic background
Education
Alma materUniversity of Southampton
ThesisOn Noise from Convected Turbulence (1961)
Doctoral advisorElfyn Richards
Academic work
DisciplineEngineering
Sub-discipline
Institutions
Doctoral students
Main interests
Notable ideasFfowcs Williams–Hawkings analogy

John "Shôn" Eirwyn Ffowcs Williams FRSA FRAeS FInstP FREng (25 May 1935 – 12 December 2020) was Emeritus Rank Professor of Engineering at the University of Cambridge and a former Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge (1996–2002). He may be best known for his contributions to aeroacoustics, in particular for his work on Concorde. Together with one of his students, David Hawkings, he introduced the far-field integration method in computational aeroacoustics based on Lighthill's acoustic analogy, known as the Ffowcs Williams–Hawkings analogy.

Ffowcs was elected as a member into the National Academy of Engineering in 1995 for contributions to the theory of jet noise, and other aspects of aeroacoustics and hydrodynamics.