“Celebrating your retirement from Seoul National University, we express our sincere respect to your academic achievements.”

A 2-page letter was published the May 2009 issue of International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, titled ‘Celebrating the 65th Birthday of Prof. Seung-Tak No.’ Having a retirement congratulations letter published an international academic journal is a rare occurrence. “It was a little embarrassing,” said Prof. No. “Thely thing I did for 30 years is teaching students and conducting research.”

Starting out as a professor at the Seoul National University Dept. of Mechanical Engineering in 1973, he taught 113 Master’s students and 30 Ph.D. students for 35 years until his retirement. His book Engineering Thermodynamics, first published in 1986, reprinted its 4th edition in 2008, widely used as a go-to textbook in the field of thermodynamics for decades.

He has contributed to solving industrial problems using thermodynamics. Once the Montreal Protocol became effective in 1989, the use of ozone depleting substances such as CFC as refrigerants was banned. Prof. No quickly tested the properties of a new eco-friendly refrigerant to use it in the air conditioning units of cars. He also conducted research the conditions for improving the thermal efficiency of combined heat and power plants and combined cycle power plants. His work fuel cell power generation, which has been gaining momentum in energy technology, has helped lay the foundation of basic research at an early stage. When asked about the new COVID-19 vaccine created by Pfizer, which requires a cold chain below -70°C, he said: “The level of Korean refrigeration technologies should be enough, as long as it is economically feasible.”