Donald Harlan Thurnau was born on 18. Dec. 1924 at Saint Louis, Missouri. He was the son of
Clarence Thurnau and
Helen Meir. Donald Harlan Thurnau was graduated in 1945 at Valparaiso University. He married
Vena Joy Opie, daughter of
Harry Jones Opie and
Emma Clara Hedges, on 1. Sep. 1946. Donald Harlan Thurnau was graduated in 1949 at University of Kansas, Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas; Masters. He was graduated in 1955 at University of Colorado; Phd. He was a research physicist. 27 September 1999 Donald Thurnau ('45)
I am retired although I still do a bit of consulting in the field where I spent most of my career - creating software to enable petroleum engineers to study various alternatives for producing oil and gas from known subterranean accumulations, commonly called oil fields. At its core, this software involves solution, by finite difference methods, of coupled systems of non-linear partial differential equations. The desired result is a prediction, over time, of the production rates of oil, water and gas from each well in the field. In some cases, where the hydrocarbon fluids fractionate significantly as they flow toward the wells, it is necessary to treat each hydrocarbon component individually, using empirical equations of state to describe the phase behavior. For the sake of stability in solving the partial differential equations, implicit formulation of the finite difference equations is required. This leads to very, very large sets of extremely sparse, but structured, simultaneous algebraic equations which are not static as time proceeds. Devising rapid, reliable methods to solve these linear systems was, for me, a challenge that accounts for years of my working career.
After graduation from VU and partly during Army service, I worked in three different laboratories which were part of the Manhattan Project. This was the effort to develop the atomic bombs that ended the war with Japan. The most interesting work, at Oak Ridge, was in mass spectrometry which I had studied at VU. Oddly, the VU course that got me that job was glass-blowing. After that, I enrolled at the U. of Kansas to study for my master's degree in physics, the thesis for which concerned the design of a linear (vacuum tube) amplifier for instrumentation associated with a linear accelerator. I had no funds to remain in school, and the only industry hiring in 1949 was oil.
So I went to work at the Mobil labs in Dallas. There was the beginning of my interest in multiphase fluid flow in porous rock, some of it involving special-purpose analogue computers. After three years, I decided to enroll at U. of Colorado for my PhD in physics where my thesis work was in vacuum-ultraviolet spectroscopy. At Colorado, I almost switched to applied math. My next job was in the Dupont laboratories where I designed instrumentation for remotely controlled chemical processing and set up a facility to do research in nuclear magnetic resonance. But the oil industry beckoned, giving me an opportunity to move back to Colorado, at the Marathon Oil research center. With some friends, formed a consulting company in 1968 and traveled the world delivering oil field software for the next 31 years. Then retired.
It was wartime when I was at VU. I went to school the year around, finishing my BA in less than three years. There was little time to think in terms of a career, and it was obvious that there were plenty of job prospects for anyone with good training. But the urgency to win the war tended to blur the notion of selecting a career. I was certain that the physics, math and chemistry courses I was taking would prepare me for something useful and also interesting.
My advice to aspiring students is the importance of getting solid grounding in fundamental subject matter. That stuff is non-perishable, and you never know when your career will take a turn that requires the exercise of long-unused skills. Good job opportunities do not always have an academic ring to them. Graduate students, especially, need to be aware that they may not succeed in making a career out of their thesis subject.
Copyright 1998 Valparaiso University. All Rights Reserved. He died on 16. Nov. 2003 at Peachtree City, Fayette County, Georgia, at age 78. Nov. 26, 2003 The Citizen
Donald Thurnau
Donald Thurnau, 78, Peachtree City, died Nov. 16, 2003. He was born Dec. 18, 1924 in St. Louis, Mo., the son of Clarence and Helen Thurnau. He earned his Ph.D. in Physics and had a career in the computer science field. In retirement, he enjoyed golf, the Peachtree City Kiwanis Club, and was a member of First Presbyterian Church of Peachtree City. Graveside services were at Westminster Memorial Gardens, Peachtree City, with the Rev. Dick Dodds officiating. Survivors include his wife, Joy Thurnau, Peachtree City, daughters, Kate Rogers, Newnan, and Ellie and Trigg Wood, Peachtree City; grandsons, Paul Rogers, and Ben Rogers; granddaughters, Jessica Wood, and Suzi Wood; a brother, Gene and Edna Thurnau, Dunedin, Fla; and a sister, Ruth and Wally Schultz, Orlando, Fla. Carmichael-Hemperley Funeral Home, Peachtree City, was in charge.