Jan Drewes Achenbach (20 August 1935 – 22 August 2020) was a Dutch-American engineer, editor and educator. He was professor emeritus (Walter P. Murphy Professor and Distinguished McCormick School Professor) at Northwestern University.
Achenbach was born in the northern region of the Netherlands, in Leeuwarden.
He worked as a preceptor at Columbia University, he was then appointed as assistant professor at Northwestern University.
Achenbach is the founding editor-in-chief of Wave Motion.
He was honored with the National Medal of Science from President George W. Bush in 2005.
Achenbach died on 22 August 2020 at the age of 85.