Jim Andrews (1934-2024)
In Memory of Jim Andrews
September 27, 1934 - May 31, 2024
Jim Andrews was the co-supervisor for my doctoral studies at the University of Iowa. Along with the late Jim Hay, Roy Crowninshield, Richard (Dick) Brand, and Tom Brown, he helped establish the legacy of biomechanics excellence at Iowa and they were among the first to offer a doctoral degree program in this emerging field.
Jim Andrews passed away on May 31st, leaving me feeling orphaned. Who was Jim Andrews? He was the engineer behind the theoretical works emanating from the Iowa team. He was also an athlete, an accomplished tennis player who loved the sport. Kit Vaughan, a former graduate student at Iowa, recounts a story where a fiery John McEnroe, at the top of his game at Wimbledon in 1981, made the infamous comment to umpire Edward James, “You cannot be serious!” Jim Andrews, it seems, was mortified and said to Kit, “We don’t all behave that way. On behalf of America, I apologize!". He was a gentleman on and off the court.
A sentence I often repeat to my students, first told to me by Jim Andrews, is, “It is good to have intuition in science, but you must always check if your intuition is indeed correct.” At Iowa, I taught a graduate course called “Biomechanics of Human Motion,” which Jim Andrews supervised and observed from the back of the room. After each class, we would discuss my lecture at length. I learned more about teaching and mechanics in those discussions than in all the formal courses I ever took. He was patient, thoughtful, and most of all, understanding of the student experience. In group meetings, he would regularly fall asleep and snore to the students’ delight, but then he would wake and, out of nowhere, ask profound questions, leaving everybody stunned.
Jim Andrews was the engineer to the scientist, the harbor in a sometimes-tumultuous sea, and most of all, he was generous with his knowledge and respectful of the students who had the pleasure of learning from him.
Here is a link to his obituary for all who knew him and for all who want to know a bit more about this early, quiet, and humble pioneer of American biomechanics.
Walter Herzog, University of Calgary
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