Professor Keenan's Contribution to Thermodynamics

Professor Keenan's engineering contributions to thermodynamics, such as the development of the properties of steam, are world‐renowned. His contributions to the science and the teaching of the subject, however, will probably have a longer lasting influence. All of his contributions derived from an uncompromising search for understanding and elimination of ambiguities overlooked or accepted by others. He developed a coherent and logical exposition of the fundamentals of thermodynamics so that the widest possible range of problems could be considered in a uniform and consistent manner. The way Professor Keenan was able to convey to his students but also to his colleagues what he believed about the concepts in thermodynamics, was to ask questions.