A Tribute to Our Centenarian Yuan-Cheng Fung: Father of Modern Biomechanics.

Abstract

On this momentous occasion of Y. C. Fung's centennial birthday, I send my very best wishes for his good health and well-being and thank him for being a consummate teacher, a distinguished scholar, a brilliant researcher, a quintessential leader, a visionary role model, and more personally, a revered mentor, a generous colleague, and a loving friend.We have previously written in great detail on how Fung's writing and teaching has inspired and directly influenced our studies on the biomechanics of ligaments and tendons [1]. Therefore, in response to the invitation by the guest editors, I requested and they consented for me to write in this special issue, a brief history of how Fung brought biomechanics to everyone's attention and transformed our field. Specifically, how he orchestrated the ASME Biomechanics Symposium, which began in 1973, and launched the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering as well in 1977.In addition, Fung led a number of colleagues to spread and share the knowledge on biomechanics worldwide. He regularly included junior colleagues in these activities to inspire and to teach them how to do things properly. Starting in 1983, Fung organized the China–Japan–USA (and later Singapore) Conference on Biomechanics. In 1990, he initiated the World Congress of Biomechanics (WCB). Between the first and the second World Congress in 1994, Fung got the biomechanics leaders together and formed the World Council to run the WCB.With the guest editors' permission and your indulgence, I would like to share the experience of how his students, friends, and colleagues would get together to celebrate his milestone birthdays with him. In doing so, the readers may learn about how much we, his admirers, respect and appreciate his generosity and his positive influence on our lives. Finally, I will give the readers a glance of my 48 years of personal interactions with Fung with the hope to show the true meaning of “a respected mentor and cherished friend!”The objectives of this writing are to encourage readers, especially the younger readers, to learn how Fung has successfully inspired, taught, and guided junior colleagues, like me, on why, what, and how to make sustaining contributions to our profession. I have purposely included many names who were pioneers and leaders (and I apologize to those whose names that I may have inadvertently missed) who were influential in the growth and development of the field of biomechanics for the sole purpose that interested readers could follow them individually. Finally, I will use quotes, many from Fung's own writing throughout the text so that readers might enjoy, and more importantly, appreciate his beautiful words.In the Preface for his collected works [2,3], I wrote:In 1998, Fung received the Founders Award from the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. The following is an excerpt from his acceptance speech where he gave a brief history of himself and biomechanics:To learn more about Yuan-Cheng Fung, interested readers are urged to read articles written by Kassab [5], Woo [6], and Tong [7].At the beginning of the 1970s, Fung together with John Brighton wanted to create “a forum which is devoted principally to the mechanics aspect of bioengineering.” Since both the fluids engineering (FED) and applied mechanics (AMD) Divisions of ASME also had strong interests in biomechanics, it presented a great opportunity to unify and coordinate these activities within the ASME as well as to bring together other “sister societies in engineering, biology, and medicine” with interests in biomechanics.I was thrilled when Fung asked me to join him as a member of the Organizing Committee in 1972—only 2 years after I arrived at UCSD to begin my academic career. I helped him to select members for the Committee (Fred B. Gessner, Albert S. Kobayashi, Y. King Liu, Winfred M. Phillips, Richard Skalak, Charles Smith, Jr., David Wieting, and Wen-Jei Yang) to plan the program as well as to select papers for the inaugural Biomechanics Symposium, which took place at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia on June 20–22, 1973.The symposium entitled “Properties of Biological Fluids and Solids: Mechanics of Tissues and Organs” was co-sponsored by the AMD and FED. There were 15 papers on Properties of Biological Fluids and Solids, seven on Mechanics and Physiology of Organs, seven on Flow of Biological Fluids, eight on Mechanics of Bones, and three on Analysis and Measurements of Natural and Artificial Organs (Fig. 1(a)).Fung immediately transferred the leadership to Skalak who invited Robert Nerem and Albert Schultz to be the co-chairs for the following two biennial symposia that took place at Rensselaer Polytechnic University (1975) and Yale University (1977), respectively. Skalak then passed the chairmanship to William VanBuskirk, who chaired the 1979 symposium at the State University of New York (SUNY) (Fig. 1(b)).During our inaugural gathering in 1973, a Joint Biomechanics Committee was formed to run the Biomechanics Symposium. Skalak asked me to be the Secretary. I served in that position until 1979 when I became its co-chair (1979–1983). All of these would not have happened without Fung, who gave me the opportunity to serve and showed me his vision, leadership, and diligence to ensure things got done and done correctly. His trust in (or risk-taking on) his junior colleague with little or no experience was certainly unconventional; but, on the other hand, it helped to jumpstart my academic career. I have since passed on what I have observed, learned, and absorbed and also the importance to serve our profession to my students and junior colleagues for the past 46 years.It is also worth mentioning that, during the early years, there was only a small amount of reserve funds in the Bioengineering (formerly, the Human Factor) Division (BED) to support any divisional activities. As such, the venue for the symposia would need to be at a University. Most attendees would stay in the dormitories with no air-conditioning (in June!) and sleep in beds with rather deformed mattresses. It was rather uncomfortable for many senior faculty members. Still, the symposia were well attended, presenters were enthusiastic, and discussions were with high energy; even though the sessions would last from morning until after well after sunset.Fast forward to the 1990s, the new leadership of the BED came up with a novel solution to solve BED's poor financial situation. They had successfully brokered with ASME to run this meeting independently and renamed it as the Summer Bioengineering Conference (SBC). In addition, the Site-Selection Committee chose beautiful locations for the SBC to attract family members to join the delegates. The Program Committee changed the meeting schedule to allow for more free time for family and other activities. As a result, SBC has become highly successful in every way! The new agreement also allowed BED to recover a much larger percentage of the meeting income to support other creative projects. With increased participation came stronger demand for the scientific program, so the BED leadership increased the frequency of the SBC to meet annually. A few years ago, it further expanded its scope and the conference was once again renamed as the Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering and Biotransport Conference (SB3C). It is now the most looked forward to attend conference by many of us!As soon as the biennial Biomechanics Symposium was launched, Fung and Brighton were hard at work to start a new ASME Transaction. There were a number of meetings held to discuss its scope as well as other procedural and logistical matters. Many junior faculty members, like myself, were invited to attend and learn. Once the decision was made, delicate negotiations were conducted by Brighton and Fung with AMD and FED as well as the Policy Board on Communication and the Editorial Staff of ASME. The result was a new ASME Transaction: the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering (JBME). The first issue was in February of 1977 with Brighton as the Technical Editor [8]. Also, to align with the other ASME Transactions, the JBME started as Volume 99 for its first year.Brighton wrote:In 1980, Fung took over as the Technical Editor and he added Michael M. Chen, Edward S. Grood, Van C. Mow, Sidney S. Sobin, and Savio L-Y. Woo as new Associate Editors.I have taken the liberty to list the names of all early Associate Editors of JBME for the benefit of younger readers who may wish to learn more about these pioneers in the field of Bioengineering. I am also quite pleased that the established tradition/principle/procedure on review and acceptance of manuscripts has largely been kept intact by all the subsequent Technical Editors for JBME until this day!After President Nixon's historic visit to China in 1972, Fung, together with his wife Luna, was invited to China the following year—after an absence of 28 years from their homeland. Following that trip, a number of well-known Chinese scholars in the mechanics area came to UCSD to study Biomechanics under Fung and to work with his students and staff. Among them were Zhemin Zheng, Zhenhuang Kang, Zulai Tao, Yunpeng Wu, Gongrui Wang, Junjian Wang, Fengyuan Zhuang, Zonglai Jiang, Shu Q. Liu, and many more. Meanwhile, Fung was invited to China to lecture and to interact with many others with major interests in mechanics and biomechanics. These stimulating activities led him to think about the need for the exchange of knowledge on biomechanics between the U.S. and China. But, to do this, he needed a new platform.It was at a dinner gathering at the 1979 Biomechanics Symposium that Fung introduced the idea of forming the U.S. National Committee on Biomechanics (USNCB). Then on June 21, 1981, Fung, Grood, T. K. Hung, Mates, Nerem, Schultz, Skalak, and VanBuskirk gathered at the Biomechanics Symposium in Boulder, Colorado to further discuss the formation of the USNCB. Together, they decided that a National Committee should be established and formed an Organizing Committee with Fung as the Chair, Skalak as the Vice-Chair, and Nerem as the Secretary to spearhead this effort. They also created a list of other known individuals in biomechanics and invited them to participate. Many responded positively and came to the follow-up meetings held in Washington, D.C. on November 12, 1981 and in New Orleans on April 12, 1982. The minutes for those meetings read that one of the three main objectives for the USNCB was “to act in an advisory/coordinating/facilitating role in the formation of international meetings.”With a grant funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and co-sponsorship from the (U.S.) Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), Fung led a U.S. delegation that included Woo, Nerem, Skalak, Sobin, Mow, J. Lawrence Katz, Sheldon Weinbaum, John G. Pinto, Ned H. C. Hwang, Jen-Shih Lee, Michael R. T. Yen, H. K. Chang, Edmund Y. S. Chao, George Lea, Ted Y. T. Wu, Hyland Chen, and Elizabeth R. Myers to the inaugural meeting of the China–Japan–USA Conference on Biomechanics (CJUS) held in Wuhan, China in 1983 (Fig. 2). The venue at the East Lake was serene and that environment was conducive for clear thinking and good discussion. Fung also gave a thought-provoking, stimulating plenary lecture, entitled “What Principle Governs the Stress Distribution in Living Organ?”After the Wuhan meeting, a number of us joined the Fungs for a cruise down the Yangtze River to Anhui Province and then scaled the majestic Yellow Mountain on foot (Fig. 3).Following the success of the first CJUS conference, Fung, again working through the USNCB, applied to the NSF's U.S.–Japan program to support the U.S. delegates for the second meeting to be held four years later in Japan (1987). The minutes of the April 13, 1986 USNCB meeting reflected that a list of 16 U.S. delegates who were nominated by its constituent societies were selected.In 1995, the fourth Conference rotated back to China. Singapore was invited to join as the fourth country. Now the CJUSS Conference was held in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province (Fig. 4). In the conference Proceedings [9], Fung offered a history of this conference in his Foreword:Fung's influence on the development and growth on biomechanics in Asia has indeed been long lasting. The two recent publications clearly demonstrate that the field of biomechanics has continued to grow and mature there [10,11].Fung further used the USNCB as a platform to launch the World Congress on Biomechanics (WCB). Discussion of the concept and communication with other societies, especially the International Society of Biomechanics began as early as July 8, 1984. On November 18, 1985, the USNCB appointed Fung to Chair a Steering Committee for the first WCB. By the next year, the Steering Committee was established with 44 members from 21 countries:Georgi Brankov, Bulgaria;Robert M. Nerem, Atlanta, GAFranz Burny, Belgium;Peter Niederer, SwitzerlandAurelio Capozzo, Italy;Benno M. Nigg, CanadaColin Caro, UK; Robert W. K. Norman, CanadaWalter Chang, Taipei, China; Giovanni Pallotti, ItalyShu Chien, La Jolla, CA;John P. Paul, ScotlandJohn D.C. Crisp, Australia;Timothy J. Pedley, UKPascal S. Christel, France;Stephan M. Perren, SwitzerlandLeo Dintenfass, Australia;Gunter Rau, West GermanyRoger M. Enoka, Robert S. Reneman,Tucson, AZ; The NetherlandsEiichi Fukada, Tokyo, Japan; Helmut Reul, West GermanyKozaburo Hayashi, Erich Schneider,Hokkaido, Japan; SwitzerlandYukihide Isogai, Tokyo, Japan;Yasuyuki Seguchi, JapanRik Huiskes, The Netherlands;Megha Singh, IndiaIvan Hvid, Denmark;Richard Skalak, La Jolla, CAMichel Jaffrin, France; Jean-Francois Stoltz, FranceZhen-Huang Kang,Jaroslav Valenta,Chengdu, China; CzechoslovakiaIvar Knets, Riga, USSR;Andrus Viidik, DenmarkEgon Krause, West Germany; Peter S. Walker, UKYoram Lanir, Israel;Savio L-Y. Woo, Pittsburgh, PAVan C. Mow, New York; Wen Jei Yang, Ann Arbor, MIAlf L. Nachemson, Sweden;Y. C. Fung, La Jolla, CA (Chair)Members of this Committee also approved the first WCB to be held at the UCSD campus in La Jolla, California from August 31 to September 4, 1990. They also appointed Shu Chien and Richard Skalak as the Co-Chairmen of this Congress as well as the Local Committee, Geert Schmid-Schöenbein as the Secretary General, Andrew McCullough as the Treasurer, and I was the Chairman of the Program Committee. During the first WCB, the Committee met and selected Amsterdam as the location for the second WCB in 1994. Colin Caro, Rik Huiskes, and Michel Jaffrin were elected as the Co-Chairmen and would be responsible for the organization of all the needed committees.Below is an excerpt of Fung's Foreword for the first WCB:More than 1200 abstracts were received. The Bioengineering family at UCSD worked together to review and select the abstracts. Fung and Chien personally edited a number of abstracts from countries where English was not their first language. In the end, the 5-day scientific program had 10 concurrent sessions plus three poster display sessions (Fig. 5). Well over 1000 delegates attended the Congress and brought so much new knowledge, different ways of thinking, and excitement to our field!The Steering Committee took another important step at the first WCB. Members voted unanimously to create a more permanent world organization for biomechanics by reconstituting the Steering Committee as a World Council for Biomechanics. Fung was elected as the Chair, Gunter Rau as the Vice Chair, and Kozaburo Hayashi as the Secretary. Further, the membership of the World Council was enlarged to include representatives from other major Societies and all known National Committees for Biomechanics. Also, the major responsibility of the World Council would be to make sure that all future WCB meetings would be inclusive and carry the same collaborative and cooperative spirits as the first WCB. Thanks to all the great work of the leadership, the excitement and enthusiasm have sustained it. At the eighth WCB in Dublin, Ireland in July 2018, well over 4000 delegates from all over the world attended. Indeed, Biomechanics, thanks to Fung's vision and leadership, is now a truly visible and viable discipline!A number of Fung's followers and admirers have been involved in the planning of his milestone birthday celebrations and many came and joined these events. On each occasion, everyone found the gathering meaningful and joyous and enjoyed spending time with their teacher and friend on his special day!Laudations also came from Fung's dearest friends, Chia-Shun Yih, Sid Sobin, Jain-Ming Wu, Ben Zweifach, Eric Reissner, and Zhemin Zheng.Sobin wrote eloquently:Another very good outcome of this event was the establishment of an ASME/BED award in Fung's honor. Since many students and staff volunteered their efforts for this successful event, there were funds remaining that could be put to good use. We knew that the leadership of the ASME/BED had been talking about establishing a Y. C. Fung Young Investigator Award; but unfortunately, did not have the funds to support it. With the permission of the Executive Committee of BED, I was charged with the duty to explore and negotiate with the ASME office. Finally, I received their permission to fund this award as a Divisional award. Then, I asked Peter Chen, the Treasurer of the Frontiers Symposium, to issue a $5000 check to ASME to kick-start this award. The first award was given 2 years later in 1986. With subsequent efforts made by many and with additional funding from the BED, the award was eventually elevated to a societal award with a medal in 1999 (Fig. 6(b)). Eighteen years later in 2017, it was renamed the Y. C. Fung Early Career Award.There were 37 chapters in this book including a special contribution by Conrad and Brenda Fung. Earlier, another book, edited by Tong and Atluri [13], was also published to celebrate Fung's 90th birthday. Interested readers are encouraged to read both books in order to gain a broader perspective of Fung's lifelong contributions to the field.My decades of association and close friendship with Fung have not only benefited my academic career, but more importantly, guided me to become a better person. Thus, I would like to share a few short stories between us with the readers. Hopefully, after reading them, it will be easy to understand why I and many others have respectfully called him our “respected mentor and cherished friend” and a 4G man.In May of 1970, I was interviewed by Fung for a position at UCSD. Fung was extremely generous with his knowledge and time and educated me about the University of California system and academia, in general. It was truly a remarkable experience! Those of you who have had the good fortune of knowing Fung would also know that he has been that way with everybody. Following that meeting, and for an additional 20 years, we worked mostly in the same Basic Science Building. On countless occasions, he not only taught me biomechanics, but also counseled me on difficult matters involving colleagues and students. Our friendship grew! Every Monday morning, I would begin to look forward to our regularly scheduled, private lunch together on Friday.In his book entitled Biomechanics: Mechanical Properties of Living Tissues [15,16], he clearly outlined the following eight (8) essential steps for solving problems on biomechanics:Many of us have followed these steps in our work and have passed his teaching on to all of our students. In recent years, perhaps only some of these steps have been followed since our research topics have become more descriptive, conceptual, and discovery in nature. Still, I suspect that, soon, we will reach the stage of quantitative analysis on structure and function relationships. Then, these important steps will need to be front and center.Between 1989 and 1990, I was contemplating leaving UCSD for the University of Pittsburgh. And of course, like many others, I sought his advice from the very beginning. At first, he did not think that I should move. But, with more meetings at his office and in his home, he decided that it was indeed a great opportunity for me to pursue my dreams and gave me his full support. He even guided me through the negotiation process. In the end, he lovingly confessed that, initially, he just did not want to see me leave La Jolla—and that really warmed my heart!On Aug. 5, 1990, Fung and many friends in the Department of Bioengineering at UCSD organized a farewell luncheon for my family. There, he gave me a copy of his new book, Biomechanics: Motion, Flow Stress and Growth [4]. On the inside cover, he wrote an inspiring inscription:He also added some advice:I have treasured these lines for over 28 autumns, and every time, I read these cogent words of wisdom, my eyes well up.On a clear and beautiful day in September of 1999, my wife and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary at beautiful Laguna Beach in Southern California. Fung and Luna joined us! As we walked backward up the hill from the beach to the hotel, he observed and wrote these poetic and memorable words:In 2011, in the tribute book for my 70th birthday [17], Fung and Luna kindly wroteI have had the distinct honor, privilege, and pleasure to introduce Y. C. Fung at conferences and ceremonies as well as to write special articles about him on a number of occasions. However, I confess that in spite of my best efforts, my remarks and writings have not been able to come close to the man that he is. The difficulty has always been to find the right words to adequately describe this brilliant teacher who possesses superior knowledge, great understanding of culture, and above all, humility!It is, therefore, my sincere hope that on the occasion of celebrating his 100th birthday, my manuscript, together with efforts by many other authors in this special commemorative issue, have conveyed a much more complete picture of Fung's genius in addition to his gentle, genuine, and generous manner of helping and guiding others. And as a result, all of us would want to challenge ourselves to become better by immolating this 4G man who we respectfully called the “Father of Modern Biomechanics”!The author would like to thank Dr. Peter C-Y. Chen and Dr. Michael R. T. Yen (both Ph.D. students and longtime associates of Fung) for reading and double checking the events described in this manuscript, Mrs. Diann DeCenzo, Dr. Brenda Fung, and Dr. Conrad Fung for editing, and Mrs. Pattie Woo for her beautiful photos.