Jim Knowles celebrated his 60th birthday on April 14, 1991. In recognition of the many seminal contributions that he has made to the field of elasticity, and to acknowledge his profound influence on the Journal of Elasticity, this issue of the Journal is being dedicated to him.
Jim Knowles was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. He entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Fall of 1948 and spent the next 10 years there, earning his Bachelor's and Doctoral degrees, both in Mathematics, in 1952 and 1957 respectively. He stayed on at MIT for one more year as an Instructor in Mathematics.
In 1958, Jim joined the faculty at the California Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor of Applied Mechanics. He advanced rapidly, becoming Associate Professor in 1961 and full Professor in 1965. His dedication to the Institute has been such that he has never left, not even on sabbatical leave. His deep affection for Caltech was recently reciprocated when he was made an Honorary Alumnus of the California Institute of Technology! Jim Knowles has served, and been recognized by, the academic community in a number of ways. He has been a member of the editorial boards of the