Dr. Boyd Balford Cary died on February 18, 2010 in Scottsdale, Arizona after developing pneumonia. Boyd was born in Enid, Oklahoma on October 29, 1923. After attending Princeton University on the V-12 Navy program, he was commissioned at Columbia University as Lt. (jg) in the U.S. Navy and served aboard the U.S. Antietam aircraft carrier in the Pacific until the close of WWII. He completed his B.S. in physics at the University of Maryland where he also earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics. Following aerospace research at General Electric Valley Forge Space Center, he specialized in fluid dynamics and acoustics research at General Dynamics, Rochester, NY, where he and his colleague Robert Rubega developed and patented the Lorad Sonar system. He continued his research on acoustics and fluid mechanics at Tracor and EG&G in Washington, DC until retiring to Scottsdale at age 72.
Boyd published many papers in journals including Journal of Sound and Vibration, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, and Physics of Fluids. His interests, however, extended far beyond his work in fluid dynamics and acoustics. For example, in 1989, he co-authored the paper "A Simple Model of a Supernova" with Richard Adams and Jeffrey Cohen. The paper was published in Astrophysics and Space Science. He was also able to speak and/or translate several foreign languages including German, Russian, French, Italian, and Ukrainian. An accomplished musician, he played the flute, oboe, and English horn with civic orchestras. He enjoyed exercising and visiting Great Britain. He retained his enthusiasm for life and his many interests and friendships to the end of his life. He is loved dearly and will be missed by his wife, Emily Pritchard Cary, sons Roger Cary of Salt Lake City and Roland Cary of Omaha, and friends worldwide.
