Jack R. Vinson, H. Fletcher Brown Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering and co-founder of the Center for Composite Materials at the University of Delaware, died on 8 October 2025. He was 95.
Vinson earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University in 1952. He later studied theory of structures and advanced strength of materials at Cambridge University in England as a Rotary International Fellow.
In the mid-1950s, he served as an officer at the Aeronautical Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base before joining General Electric’s Missile and Space Division, where he contributed to early intercontinental ballistic missile and satellite systems.
After earning his doctorate in engineering mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1961, Vinson became vice president and senior scientist at Dyna/Structures, Inc., where he consulted on major aerospace projects such as the Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile.
In 1964, he joined the University of Delaware as an associate professor, later becoming the H. Fletcher Brown Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and serving as chair of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department from 1965 to 1979. In the late 1960s, he taught one of the first composite materials courses in the United States.
Vinson made seminal contributions to the understanding of composite structures, particularly curved shapes known as shells and “sandwich” structures. He also studied how these materials respond under extreme forces, such as impacts and explosions. Along with co-founders Tsu-Wei Chou, Roy McCullough, and R. Byron Pipes, Vinson established a center of excellence for composite materials research and education, serving as the first director from 1974 to 1978.
Throughout his career, Vinson authored eight textbooks and more than 400 papers. He founded the Journal of Sandwich Structures and Materials and served as its editor-in-chief for more than two decades, helping establish it as a cornerstone of the composites community.
After retiring from full-time academia in 2005, Vinson taught four graduate courses through distance learning and mentored students around the globe as a professor emeritus. He also advised industry and served as an expert witness in legal cases through his consulting practice, Structural Mechanics Associates.
His many honors included the AIAA Award in Structural Mechanics, the ASME Centennial Medal, the ASC Technomic Award, the ASC National Distinguished Research Award, the Medal of Excellence in Composite Materials and the Office of Naval Research–AIAA Research Award. He was a Life Fellow of ASME, and a Fellow of AIAA and ASC.
