Vladimir Koloušek

Following his school education, Vladimír Koloušek studied civil engineering at the Czech TH in Prague from 1927 to 1934; at the same time he passed an examination to study for two semesters in the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Karl University in Prague. He worked for the Vítkovice Steelworks from 1934 to 1937 and afterwards designed numerous reinforced concrete and steel structures for Czechoslovakian State Railways. It was during this period that he converted important F-functions to tabular form for dynamic analyses with a hand-operated calculating machine. Confronted by the vibration problems of radio masts and railway bridges, he was prompted to investigate structural dynamics, a field in which he was to become a pioneer. He published a forwardlooking paper on the dynamics of frames in the Ingenieur-Archiv as early as 1941; here, he was able to integrate frame dynamics organically into the language of the displacement method. Before the advent of the computer, his dynamic displacement method was the most effective way of calculating natural frequencies. His doctorate came in 1946 at Prague TH with his dissertation Statische und dynamische Lösung der abgespannten Antennenmasten; just one year later he was able to complete his habilitation thesis on structural dynamics. After a period as a private lecturer at Prague TH, he worked as full professor of structural mechanics and dynamics at the Railway Academy in Prague from 1953 to 1962, a job he interrupted in 1954 to take on a professorship at the Transport Academy in Žilina. From 1963 to 1976 he was responsible for structural dynamics at Prague TH. Koloušek is regarded as the founder of structural dynamics. He always compared his theoretical findings with measurements. Many of his books have been translated. Although he was seen as an introverted scientist, many young engineers were attracted to him and that helped him found the internationally renowned Czechoslovakian school of structural dynamics. Koloušek was elected corresponding member of the Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences and received numerous honorary medals and a state prize.

Main contributions to structural analysis:

Anwendung des Gesetzes der virtuellen Verschiebungen und des Reziprozitätssatzes in der Stabwerksdynamik [1941]; Dynamika stavebních konstrukcí (dynamics of building structures) [1950/1954/1956/1967/1980]; Baudynamik der Durchlaufträger und Rahmen [1953]; Schwingungen der Brücken aus Stahl und Stahlbeton [1956]; Efforts dynamiques dans les ossatures rigides [1958]; Dynamik der Baukonstruktionen [1962]; Dinamika strojitělnych konstrukcij (structural dynamics) [1965]; Dynamics in Civil Engineering Structures [1973]; Wind Effects on Civil Engineering Structures [1983] 

Source: Kurrer, Karl-Eugen The History of the Theory of Structures, Wilhelm Ernst & Sohn Verlag für Architektur und technische Wissenschaften GmbH, Berlin (Deutschland), ISBN 3-433-01838-3, 2008; p. 742