Charles Lavern Mader was an American physical chemist known for his work in the fluid dynamics of explosives and water waves. He was a Laboratory Fellow of Los Alamos National Laboratory. He wrote several books on numerical modeling of explosives, propellants, and water waves, and he authored or co-authored over 160 technical papers.
Mader’s research involved the study of the physical chemistry of detonations, explosives, and propellants through laboratory experiments, atmospheric and underground testing, and numerical modeling. He used the numerical models that he developed to predict results that were then experimentally verified. His models also were used to reproduce results derived from previously acquired experimental data. Mader and J. Zinn developed numerical solutions for nonlinear heat conduction equations that agreed with experimental data. Using the Los Alamos IBM-7030 STRETCH computer and the Becker-Kistiakowsky-Wilson equations of state, he developed computer models for the detonation properties of explosives. Using the Los Alamos PHERMEX, he and colleagues extracted experimental data from flash radiographs of explosives and explosive-driven metal systems,. His book "Numerical Modeling of Detonations" surveys two decades of numerical modeling of the detonation process for condensed explosives and describes the numerical methods and the reactive dynamics of these materials. His book "Numerical Modeling of Explosives and Propellants" became a standard text on the chemistry and fluid dynamics of chemical explosive devices. Mader applied his expertise in fluid dynamics to research in the numerical modeling of tsunamis and other water waves. Using the full Navier-Stokes AMR Eulerian compressible hydrodynamic computer code called SAGE, software developed by SAIC and Los Alamos, he modeled landslide tsunami hazards, such as the 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami and the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. His models are used to evaluate tsunami flooding and to determine which areas need to be evacuated. His book "Numerical Modeling of Water Waves" is a "comprehensive treatise of the evolving science of computer modeling of waves."
Personal life
Mader was an accomplished mountaineer and downhill skier. He was the 65th person to have climbed all 54 Colorado peaks above 14,000 feet. He and his wife Emma Jean skied sixty years and after marking his 80th birthday, he skied 1.5 million vertical feet. He was devoted to the Boy Scouts of America, serving as Scoutmaster in Los Alamos and mentoring 48 Scouts to earn their Eagle rank. He was a 3 Bead Woodbadger and was awarded the Silver Beaver. He was a District Commissioner in the Aloha Council of the Boy Scouts.
Mader, C. L.. , a chapter in Computers and Their Role in the Physical Sciences, edited by A. Taub and S. Fernbach. Gordon and Breach Science Publishers. pp. 385–404.
Mader, C. L.. , a chapter in High Velocity Impact Dynamics, edited by J. A. Zukas. Wiley-Interscience.
Mader, C. L.. , a chapter in High Velocity Impact Dynamics, edited by J. A. Zukas. Wiley-Interscience.
Mader, C. L.. , a chapter in Organic Energetic Compounds, edited by P. L. Marinkas. Nova Science Publishers, Inc. pp. 165–247.