In Memoriam Leif Bjorno
After a few days of illness Professor Bjørnø passed away on October 24, 2015. Leif Bjorno held the position of Professor at the Department of Industrial Acoustics (Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark) for over 22 years. He left the University in 2000 due to his commitments as a serving member or chairman of the board of directors or trustees of several institutions in Denmark and abroad.Leif’s activities were always internationally focused and centered on translational applications of science and technology. His experience included industrial applications of acoustics, especially in the field of machinery noise, mathematical models describing propagation of acoustic waves in different media, signal processing, development of ultrasound measurement devices, and underwater- and nonlinear- acoustics.
He authored or co-authored over 400 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, professional magazines, conference proceedings and text-books. Professor Bjorno has completed his compulsory military service as a lieutenant in the Danish Navy and nurtured his Navy connection throughout his life - he was regularly called upon as consultant in the matters related to – particularly – his expertise in littoral acoustics. His expertise in acoustics was also highly recognized by the NATO and during the cold war period he was considered to be one of the internationally recognized experts in the field of underwater explosions, underwater sound propagation and underwater vibrations. As a result he was appointed as the leader of the Advisory Committee at NATO research center (SACLANT, La Spezia, Italy) – the Center’s priorities at that time were focused on anti-submarine warfare and mine detection. Leif was highly recognized as a scientist and human being both in Denmark and globally. He was appointed to a number of honorary (chairman) positions; he was also a member of many professional organizations and recipient of a number of awards and prizes. He never retired and at the time of his death held appointments as Visiting Professor at several European and American universities. In addition, he continued with his involvement, participation and planning of international scientific meetings. His peers considered him as a scholarly talented, life enjoying, open minded, honest and loyal individual, who stayed in touch and cultivated close connections with people he liked and respected. He disliked those, who were scholarly competent but incapable of treating others with due respect. These characteristics of Leif played undoubtedly a major role in his development of large, international network of friends, which included college peers, (Navy) officers friends and industry leaders and decision makers ("movers and shakers"), and younger friends that also enjoyed his company, hospitality, knowledge and good sense of humor.
(C) 2011 - Alle Rechte vorbehalten