V. V. Panasyuk, famous scientist, organizer of science, and public figure

Abstract

Volodymyr Vasyl’ovych Panasyuk, Doctor of Sciences in the field of engineering, Professor, Academician of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, and outstanding scientist in the field of the theory of strength of materials and structures, is one of the founders of the Lviv scientific school of mechanicians and experts in materials science, the author of more than 500 scientific publications, including 15 monographs and more than 30 author’s certificates and patents. V. V. Panasyuk started his scientific career at the H. V. Karpenko Physicomechanical Institute of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in 1951. Since 1971, he has been the Director of the Physicomechanical Institute. Academician Panasyuk laid the foundations of the theory of brittle fracture and strength of structural materials and proposed a new δ k -model for the analysis of the state of limiting equilibrium in the presence of cracks. This model and the concept of electrochemical situation at the crack tip were highly renowned by the world scientific community and promoted the development of new methods aimed at the evaluation of the durability of materials and structures with regard for the effect of working media. In his pioneer works, V. V. Panasyuk significantly enriched the mechanics of deformable bodies and materials science and made an important contribution to the formation and development of the physicochemical mechanics of fracture of materials as a new trend in the science of strength of materials. The monographs by V. V. Panasyuk “Limiting Equilibrium of Brittle Bodies with Cracks” (1968) and “Mechanics of Quasibrittle Fracture of Materials” (1991) are well known throughout the world. He headed the process of preparation and publication of the many-volume handbook “Fracture Mechanics and Strength of Materials.” This fundamental handbook became an important reference point in the development of materials science and the science of strength of materials. It is extensively used in the contemporary engineering practice. The monograph “Strength and Fracture of Solids with Cracks” (2002) also got the worldwide recognition (its publication was supported by the European Fracture Mechanics and Structural Integrity So