Ralph Brazelton Peck (June 23, 1912 – February 18, 2008) was a civil engineer specializing in

soil mechanics Soil mechanics is a branch of soil physics and applied mechanics that describes the behavior of soils. It differs from fluid mechanics and solid mechanics in the sense that soils consist of a heterogeneous mixture of fluids (usually air and wat ...

. He was awarded the

National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...

in 1976 "for his development of the science and art of subsurface engineering, combining the contributions of the sciences of geology and soil mechanics with the practical art of foundation design"? Peck was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

to O.C. and Ethel Peck, and moved to the United States at age six. In 1934, he received his civil engineer degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and was given a three-year fellowship for graduate work in structures. On June 14, 1938, he married Marjorie Truby and obtained a Doctor of Civil Engineering degree. After receiving his degree, he worked briefly for the

American Bridge Company The American Bridge Company is a heavy/civil construction firm that specializes in building and renovating bridges and other large, complex structures. Founded in 1900, the company is headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pitt ...

, then on the

Chicago Subway The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its surrounding suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago 'L' and CTA bus service. In , the system had a ridership of , ...

, but Peck spent the majority of his teaching career (33 years) at the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univers ...

, initially in structures but later focused on geotechnical engineering under the influence of

Karl Terzaghi Karl von Terzaghi (October 2, 1883 – October 25, 1963) was an Austrian mechanical engineer, geotechnical engineer, and geologist known as the "father of soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering". Early life In 1883, he was born the first c ...

, ultimately retiring in 1975. He continued to work until 2006 and was highly influential as a consulting engineer, with some 1,046 consulting projects in foundations, ore storage facilities, tunnel projects, dams, and dikes, including the Cannelton and Uniontown lock and dam construction failures on the Ohio River, the dams in the

James Bay James Bay (french: Baie James; cr, ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, Wînipekw, dirty water) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost pa ...

project, the

Trans-Alaska Pipeline System The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is an oil transportation system spanning Alaska, including the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline, 11 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one o ...

, the Dead Sea dikes and the Rion-Antirion Bridge in Greece. On May 8, 2009, the

Norwegian Geotechnical Institute Norwegian Geotechnical Institute ( no, Norges geotekniske institutt, NGI) is an independent international centre for research and consultancy in engineering-related geosciences, integrating geotechnical, geological and geophysical expertise. NGI i ...

in Oslo, Norway, opened the Ralph B. Peck Library. This Library is next to the Karl Terzaghi Library, also at NGI. Correspondence between these two men are part of the two working libraries. The Karl Terzaghi Library tells about the birth and growth of soil mechanics. The Ralph B. Peck Library tells about the practice of foundation engineering, and how one engineer exercised his art and science for more than sixty years. Diaries from between 1940 and 1942 containing Peck's work with the Chicago Subway are included along with papers and reports on many of his subsequent jobs. During his career Peck authored over 201 publications, and served as president of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering from 1970 to 1974. He received many awards, including: * 1945 The

Norman Medal The Norman Medal is the highest honor granted by the American Society of Civil Engineers for a technical paper that "makes a definitive contribution to engineering science". The medal was instituted by ASCE in 1872 and originally endowed by George H ...

of the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

* 1966 The Wellington prize of the ASCE * 1960 The Karl Terzaghi Award * 1976 The

, presented by President Gerald Ford * 1989 The

John Fritz Medal The John Fritz Medal has been awarded annually since 1902 by the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) for "outstanding scientific or industrial achievements". The medal was created for the 80th birthday of John Fritz, who lived betw ...

In 2000, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) created the Ralph B. Peck Award to honor outstanding contributions to geotechnical engineering profession through the publication of a thoughtful, carefully researched case history or histories, or the publication of recommended practices or design methodologies based on the evaluation of case histories. He died on February 18, 2009, from congestive heart failure.

References

External links

Obituary in ''The Times'', 12 March 2008

Observational Method Technology Review, InfoMine.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peck, Ralph Brazelton 1912 births 2008 deaths Geotechnical engineers Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni National Medal of Science laureates American civil engineers Rankine Lecturers People from Winnipeg 20th-century American engineers Canadian emigrants to the United States

References

Further reading

External links