I thought that the propagation of knowledge through the opportunity of an open access book was the best choice for the reader community. It gives every student, researcher, physicist, and mathematician to get acquainted with the bases of fluid mechanics that constitute a fascinating field.
Can you introduce your book?
The book is an introduction to the modelling and understanding of the basic physical phenomena that occur in incompressible fluids and flows. Typical examples of that kind of fluid are water, blood flow in the vascular system, oil, lava, etc.
You were thinking about open access option for your book from the beginning. Why?
As the book comes from lecture notes, I thought that the propagation of knowledge through the opportunity of an open-access book was the best choice for the reader community. It gives every student, researcher, physicist, and mathematician the possibility to get acquainted with the bases of fluid mechanics that constitute a fascinating field.
How was the whole process?
I knew that EPFL had decided to promote open-access publication for research papers. I did not know that this initiative included books, especially in an era where books are not the primary concern in the evaluation of academics. However, the STI and the section of Mechanical Engineering decided to cover the costs of the OA publication by Springer. I was elated by this unexpected event.
From the Springer point of view, they accepted the OA venture quickly and I had a manager located in India who took the publication issues from A to Z with care and accuracy. The result is excellent. You can buy the book in hardcover but you have to pay a reasonable price for that copy. Otherwise, the book is freely available in pdf format, by chapter or as an epub.
Links:
- Book: An Introduction to the Mechanics of Incompressible Fluids
- Contact author: Michel DeVille
Authorship Notes:
This interview with Michel Deville was conducted online in October/November 2022. The article was prepared and published by Miriam Braskova. Michel Deville made no changes during the editing process.