James P. Johnston began teaching at Stanford in 1961. (Image credit: Jose Mercado / Stanford News Service)
James P. Johnston, a professor of mechanical engineering and a foremost authority on fluid dynamics, died July 13 in Palo Alto, California. He was 88. Johnston came to Stanford in 1961 from a job with industrial manufacturer Ingersoll-Rand, where he had made a name for himself leading an investigation of fluid flow across the blades of centrifugal compressors. At Stanford, a few years after his arrival, it was noted that Johnston was among the "top two or three most highly respected men in the country in the field of fluid mechanics of turbomachinery." Johnston was admired as much for his teaching as his technical acumen, where he was hailed as a researcher-teacher who produced well-trained students. He mentored at least 23 doctoral candidates through their research programs, according to his own count in 1992. "His real strength was in mentorship of students and junior colleagues," said John Eaton, a professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford and a former student of Johnston. "He cared so much about each person's success.
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