Remembering Ted

REMEMBERING TED BELL YUNG University of Pittsburgh Ted and Rulan at Ted’s birthday, January 18, 2005. Photo by Bell Yung. CHINOPERL Papers No. 28 (2008‐2009)©2009 by the Conference on Chinese Oral and Performing Literature On June 20, 2009, Theodore Hsueh Huang Pian (1919-2009) passed away after a long illness in his Cambridge Massachusetts home, at the age of 90, surrounded by family and friends. Ted, a distinguished scientist and engineer, author of several books and over 200 professional papers, and mentor to many students, was Professor Emeritus of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he taught for 40 years. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and an Academician of Academia Sinica, Taiwan. In 1974 he received the von Karman Memorial Prize for outstanding contributions to aerospace structural-material technology. He was hailed by his MIT colleagues as “a pioneer in the field of computational methods for structural analysis, and his work helped lay the foundations on which many of today's operational techniques are built.” CHINOPERL Papers No. 28 112 But to Chinoperlers, Ted was the ever patient and ever devoted husband of Rulan Chao Pian (known to her family and close friends as Iris), who is one of the founding members of CHINOPERL, its past president, and a tireless advocate for the well-being of our organization. Through the decades, Ted was always by Rulan’s side at CHINOPERL conferences, and the co-host of countless dinners and parties for Chinoperlers at the Pians’ home at 14 Brattle Circle in Cambridge, Masssachusetts. Ted’s passing is a profound loss to Rulan, their daughter Canta and her family, and the extended families of Pian and Chao. It is also a great loss to CHINOPERL, many of whose members had come to love and respect Ted as much as they love and respect Rulan. We extend our deepest condolences to Rulan, and urge her to take good care of herself. ...