Ralph Brazelton Peck (June 23, 1912 – February 18, 2008) was a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

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 ...

, the author and co-author of popular soil mechanics and foundation engineering text books, and

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

at the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

. In 1948, together with

Karl von Terzaghi Karl von Terzaghi (October 2, 1883 – October 25, 1963) was an Austrians, Austrian Mechanical Engineer, mechanical engineer, geotechnical engineer, and geologist known as the "father of soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering". Early life I ...

, Peck published the book ''Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice'', an influential

geotechnical engineering Geotechnical engineering, also known as geotechnics, is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. It uses the principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics to solve its engineering problems. I ...

text which continues to be regularly cited and is now in a third edition. Peck made significant contributions to the field of

, authoring more than 260 technical publications. He undertook work as a consultant on major projects including several large dams in his native

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, the Itezhi-Tezhi Dam in Zambia, the Saluda Dam in South Carolina, the Wilson Tunnel in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, the Bay Area Rapid Transit System, and various metro systems including those of

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, and Washington, along with work on the foundations of the Rion-Antirion Bridge in Greece. He was elected as a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

in 1965, and honored with 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 science, behavior ...

in 1975 by President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...

for "his development of the science and art of subsurface engineering, combining the contributions of the sciences of

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

and soil mechanics with the practical art of foundation design". The Ralph B. Peck Lecture and Medal was established in 2000 by the Geo-Institute of the

American Society of Civil Engineers The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a tax-exempt professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, it is the oldest national engineering soci ...

Early life and career

Peck was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

to American parents, Orwin K. and Ethel Huyek Peck, while his father was working as a bridge engineer for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad in Canada. He earned a civil engineering degree in 1934 and a doctor of civil engineering degree in 1937, both from

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (; RPI) is a private university, private research university in Troy, New York, United States. It is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere. It was establishe ...

. Between 1937 and 1938, Peck worked as a structural detailer at the American Bridge Company. Following this, from 1938 to 1939, he furthered his education by enrolling in a soil mechanics course at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, where he also served as a laboratory assistant to

Arthur Casagrande Arthur Casagrande (August 28, 1902 – September 6, 1981) was an American civil engineer born in Austria-Hungary who made important contributions to the fields of engineering geology and geotechnical engineering during its infancy. Renowned for ...

. Between 1939 and 1942, Peck was the assistant engineer at the City of Chicago Subway. In this position, he represented Karl Terzaghi, who had been engaged as a consultant for the Chicago Subway Construction Project. Peck had been proposed for the role by Casagrande. Peck also spent some time as an engineer in

Marion, Ohio Marion is a city in Marion County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located in north-central Ohio, approximately north of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. The population was 35,999 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down slig ...

with

Holabird & Root The architectural firm now known as Holabird & Root was founded in Chicago in 1880. Over the years, the firm has changed its name several times and adapted to the architectural style then current — from Chicago School to Art Deco to Moder ...

, before assuming the position of Assistant Research Professor at the University of Illinois in 1942.

Teaching, consulting and publishing career

Peck's teaching career at the University of Illinois lasted from December 1942 until his retirement in 1974. Early in Peck's tenure, he taught structures and structural engineering, but would gradually increase his focus on geotechnics, particularly after Karl Terzaghi became a regular visitor. The pair's collaboration deepened when Terzaghi was named a visiting research professor in the Department of Civil Engineering in April 1945. Their collaborative work extended to the publication of a popular and influential textbook, ''Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice,'' in 1948. The book remains in print and has been published in a third edition, co-authored with Gholamreza Mesri. In 1953, along with Walter Hanson and Thomas Thornburn, Peck published ''Foundation Engineering'', a textbook covering the practical application of soil mechanics and foundation engineering techniques, which included short biographies of many of the most pivotal figures and key collaborators of Peck's in soil mechanics up to that time, such as Terzaghi, Casagrande, and Alec Skempton. A second edition appeared in 1974. Peck retired from full-time teaching in 1974, becoming Professor Emeritus, continuing to deliver lectures on a number of occasions each year. Peck settled with his family in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

and continued to work until 2006 as a highly respected and influential consulting engineer. He undertook over 1,000 consulting projects including foundation engineering, ore storage facilities, tunnel projects, dams, and dikes, including the Cannelton and Uniontown lock and dam construction failures on the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

, the dams in the

James Bay James Bay (, ; ) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. It borders the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, and is politically part of Nunavut. Its largest island is Akimiski Island. Numerous waterways of the ...

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, 12 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one o ...

, the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea (; or ; ), also known by #Names, other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest. It lies in the endorheic basin of the Jordan Rift Valle ...

dikes and the Rion-Antirion Bridge in Greece. During his career Peck authored over 260 publications, and served as president of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering from 1969 until 1973, an organization he was deeply involved with for most of his career. On 8 May 2009, the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute in Oslo opened the Ralph B. Peck Library, located next to the Karl Terzaghi Library in the same building. The libraries include correspondence between the two men, with the Terzaghi library focused on the birth and growth of soil mechanics, whilst the Ralph B. Peck Library is dedicated to the practice of foundation engineering. 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 projects.

Awards and recognition

Peck received numerous awards during his career, including The Norman Medal of the American Society of Civil Engineers for his paper, ''Earth-pressure measurements in open cuts, Chicago Subway'' in 1944. Aged 31, Peck was the youngest single author to have received the award. In 1965, he was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and the ASCE awarded him the Wellington Prize in the same year. In 1969 he delivered the 9th Rankine Lecture at the invitation of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a Charitable organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...

. He received the Karl Terzaghi Award from the ASCE in 1969, and the US Army Civil Service Medal in 1973. He was awarded the

in 1974, being nominated by

Linus Pauling Linus Carl Pauling ( ; February 28, 1901August 19, 1994) was an American chemist and peace activist. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific topics. ''New Scientist'' called him one of the 20 gre ...

. However, political opposition with Pauling meant that then-president

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

refused to present the award in person, and Peck received it one year later from

. Other awards received by Peck included the 1976 Washington Medal from the ASCE, 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 bet ...

in 1988, and the 2005 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement award from the ASCE for his work on the Rion-Antirion bridge in Greece, the first time this award was given for work outside the United States. In 2000, the 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.

Early life and career

Teaching, consulting and publishing career

Awards and recognition

Personal life

Death

References

Further reading