Professor Emeritus Charles Beadle Passes Away

MEMORIAL: Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 4 p.m. at Davis Community Church, 412 C Street, Davis, CA.

The faculty and staff at the UC Davis College of Engineering is saddened to announce the passing of Professor Emeritus Charles Beadle on Monday, March 7, 2016.

Beadle received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts College in 1951, and MS and PhD degrees in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Michigan (1953) and Cornell University (1961), respectively. His PhD research under the direction of Professor H.D. “Don” Conway focused on solution techniques for boundary value problems. Upon completion of his PhD,  he commenced his career at UC Davis when he was appointed Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering in 1961. In 1965 he was promoted to associate professor and in 1976 to full professor. His research focused on mechanical design, engineering mechanics, rehabilitation engineering, and biomedical engineering and his efforts included a 15-month residency at the Ford Motor Company focusing on random data analysis applied to automotive vibration problems.  He served as chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, from 1978 until 1986 and became Professor Emeritus in 1991.

“The Davis campus has benefitted greatly from your outstanding dedication to students and your record of research in computer-aided design,” wrote Theodore L. Hullar, former chancellor of UC Davis, on the occasion of Beadle’s retirement in 1992. “We especially appreciative of your seven-year tenure as department chair, a difficult role requiring strong leadership skills to maintain stability in a climate of growth.”

For more information about his life please visit http://www.davisenterprise.com/obits/charles-wilson-beadle/.