Francis C. Moon, the Joseph C. Ford Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell, has won the 2007 Lyapunov Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

The Lyapunov Award is given by the Technical Committee on Multibody Systems and Nonlinear Dynamics (MSND-TC), which is part of the ASME Design Engineering Division. It recognizes lifetime contributions to the field of applied nonlinear dynamics.

Beginning in the late 1970s, Moon, along with colleagues in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, helped establish Cornell as one of the leading centers for the study of chaos theory, especially its application to mechanical systems.

He and his students developed experimental methods to test some of the new mathematical ideas in chaotic dynamics and fractals. Moon published several popular books on chaos, including "Chaotic Vibrations and Chaotic and Fractal Dynamics." His most recent book, "The Machines of Leonardo da Vinci and Franz Reuleaux," will be published this spring.

The ASME award is named for the 19th-century Russian applied mathematician Aleksandr Lyapunov (1857-1918), who established basic ideas about stability in dynamic systems.

Moon will receive the award at ASME's Sixth International Conference on Multibody Systems, Nonlinear Dynamics and Control in Las Vegas, Sept. 4-7.

Moon, who teaches dynamics and robotics, has taught in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering since 1987, and served as its director from 1987 to 1992. He joined the Cornell faculty in 1975, and also served seven years as chair of the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. His research interests include nonlinear and chaotic vibrations, superconducting bearings, electromagnetic launchers, smart structures, fluid-elastic vibrations and dynamics of machines.

Prior to his tenure at Cornell, Moon was an assistant professor in aerospace and mechanical engineering at Princeton University from 1967 to 1974. In 1996 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He has published nearly 140 journal articles and five books, and he has edited three books.

For the past decade, Moon has served as curator of Cornell's collection of Reuleaux Kinematic Models. He has written several papers on 19th-century kinematics and dynamics of machines.