Karl von Terzaghi
Encyclopedia
Karl von Terzaghi was an Austrian
civil engineer
and geologist
, called the father of soil mechanics
.
. Upon Anton Terzaghi's retirement from the army, the family moved to Graz, Austria
. At the age of ten, Terzaghi was sent to a military boarding school. He developed an interest in astronomy and geography. At age fourteen, Terzaghi entered a different military school, in Hranice, the Crown of Bohemia. He was an excellent student, especially in geometry and mathematics, and graduated with honors at the age of seventeen.
In 1900, Terzaghi entered the Technical University in Graz to study mechanical engineering. He became interested in theoretical mechanics, but Terzaghi was nearly expelled at one point. He graduated with honors in 1904. Terzaghi then fulfilled a compulsory one year military service. While fulfilling his military obligations, Terzaghi translated and greatly expanded a popular English
geology field manual into German
. He returned to the university for one year and combined the study of geology
with courses on subjects such as highway and railway engineering. He shortly produced his first academic paper, the subject of which is the geology of terraces in southern Styria.
. He went on with great success to an even more chaotic project in St. Petersburg. During six months in Russia
, he developed some novel graphical methods for the design of industrial tanks, which he submitted as a thesis for his PhD
at the university. His growing list of achievements began to open more opportunity to him. He resolved to go to the United States of America, which he did in 1912.
In the US, on his own, he undertook an engineering tour of major dam construction sites in the West. This was no ordinary tour, but was his opportunity to gather reports and first-hand knowledge of the problems of many different projects, and he used it to the fullest before returning to Austria in December 1913. When WWI broke out, he found himself drafted into the army as an officer directing a 250 man engineering battalion
. His responsibilities further increased, to leading 1000 men, and he faced combat in Serbia and witnessed the fall of Belgrade. After a short stint managing an airfield, he became a professor in the Royal Ottoman College of Engineering in Istanbul (now Istanbul Technical University
).
Here he began a happy, very productive period, in which he began his lifelong work of bringing true engineering understanding to soil
as an engineering material whose properties could be measured in standardized ways. He set up a laboratory using only the most rudimentary of equipment, and began his revolution. His measurements and analysis of the force on retaining wall
s were first published in English in 1919, and was quickly recognized as an important new contribution to the scientific understanding of the fundamental behavior of soils.
At the end of the war, he was forced to resign his post at the University, but managed to find a new post at Robert College
in Istanbul
. Here he switched his teaching language from French to English, and again constructed a laboratory out of the most simple equipment. This time he studied various experimental and quantitative aspects of the permeability
of soils to water and was able to work out some theories to explain the observations. He invented entirely new apparatus for the measurements and put in many long days of work to carry out the measurements himself. In 1924 he published much of this in his Magnum Opus, Erdbaumechanik which revolutionized the field to great acclaim. It resulted in a job offer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), which he immediately accepted.
In 1927, in an interesting co-incidence, Aurelia Schober Plath, subsequently to become the mother of the famous poet Sylvia Plath
, worked as a secretary for Terzaghi. She was of Austrian descent and worked for Terzaghi translating a handwritten manuscript in German dealing with new principles of soil mechanics. After work they would have dinner together, when Terzaghi's sparkling conversation led her to Greek drama, Russian literature, the works of Hermann Hesse
, the poems of Rainer Maria Rilke
, as well as the writings of great world philosophers. She claims the experience affected her for the rest of her life and that she "realized how narrow my world had been and that self-education could be and should be an exciting lifelong adventure. It was the beginning of my dream for the ideal education of the children I hoped some day to have."
From 1926 to 1932, Arthur Casagrande
, another pioneer of soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering, worked as Terzaghi's private assistant at MIT.
Terzaghi was much sought after as a dinner companion and was a fascinating conversationalist. His striking good looks and evident power was very attractive to women. In 1928 he met the young Harvard doctoral student in geology, Ruth Dogget, and fell deeply in love.
In 1928, Terzaghi was finally fed up with MIT and its president, and determined to return to Europe. He accepted a chair at the Vienna Technische Hochshule in the winter of 1929. He married Ruth, who became his editor and collaborator as well. A short consulting trip to Russia before taking up his post horrified him, and he came to oppose the Communist system there as a regime exemplified by its brutality and chaos. Using Austria as his base he traveled ceaselessly throughout Europe, consulting and lecturing, and making new professional contacts and collaborations. His teaching workload was now relatively light, so he continued his experimental investigations, and became especially interested in the problems of the settling
of foundations, and of grout
ing. He began writing the manuscript for a much updated and expanded version of Erdbaumechanik, now set for two volumes. However, the political turmoil in Austria began to interfere with his work, and in 1935 he decided to take a leave from Vienna during 1935 to 1936.
He began his sabbatical with a short trip to consult with Todt
and the architects of the proposed grandiose plans for immense buildings at the Nazi's Party Day Rally
site in Nuremberg. This led to a conflict over the best way to lay a sound foundation, which led to a discussion with Hitler himself, who took an intense interest in all details of the architecture. Terzaghi then returned to America where he gave a plenary lecture at the International Conference on Soil Mechanics at Harvard University. He made a lecture tour of many other universities, but discovered that prospects for employment were dim. He returned to Vienna in November 1936, shortly after the birth of his first son, Eric.
In Vienna, he returned to a nasty professional and political controversy, which he overcame only with some difficulty. He memorably stated "The Fatherland denoted me as a Nazi, the Nazis as a Bolshevik, and the Bolsheviks as a conservative idealist. Certainly only one of the three could be right, and that one is the Bolsheviks." He escaped from Vienna frequently by extended consulting trips to major construction projects in England, Italy, France, Algeria and Latvia, adding greatly to his store of practical engineering experience.
In 1938 Terzaghi emigrated to the United States and took up a post at Harvard University. Before the end of the war, he consulted on the Chicago Subway system, the Newport News Shipways construction, and raising the Normandie
, among others. He became an American citizen in March 1943. He was awarded the Frank P. Brown Medal in 1946. He remained as a part-timer at Harvard University until his retirement in 1953 at the mandatory age of 70. In July of the next year, he became the chairman of the Consulting Board for the construction of the Aswan High Dam. He resigned this post in 1959 after coming into conflict with the Russian engineers in charge of the project, but continued to consult on various hydroelectric projects, especially in British Columbia. He died in 1963 and his ashes interred in South Waterford, Maine, near "Bear's Corner," the family retreat.
established in 1960 the Karl Terzaghi Award to an "author of outstanding contributions to knowledge in the fields of soil mechanics, subsurface and earthwork engineering, and subsurface and earthwork construction".https://www.asce.org/pressroom/honors/honors_details.cfm?hdlid=69 The Terzaghi and Peck Library, which is managed by the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, in Oslo, Norway holds an extensive collection of his papers. The Mission Dam in British Columbia
, Canada, was renamed in his honor as the Terzaghi Dam
in 1965.
Austrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
and geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
, called the father of soil mechanics
Soil mechanics
Soil mechanics is a branch of engineering 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 and particles but soil may also contain organic solids, liquids, and gasses and other...
.
Early life
Karl von Terzaghi was born the first child of Army Lieutenant-Colonel Anton von Terzaghi and Amalia Eberle in PraguePrague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. Upon Anton Terzaghi's retirement from the army, the family moved to Graz, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. At the age of ten, Terzaghi was sent to a military boarding school. He developed an interest in astronomy and geography. At age fourteen, Terzaghi entered a different military school, in Hranice, the Crown of Bohemia. He was an excellent student, especially in geometry and mathematics, and graduated with honors at the age of seventeen.
In 1900, Terzaghi entered the Technical University in Graz to study mechanical engineering. He became interested in theoretical mechanics, but Terzaghi was nearly expelled at one point. He graduated with honors in 1904. Terzaghi then fulfilled a compulsory one year military service. While fulfilling his military obligations, Terzaghi translated and greatly expanded a popular English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
geology field manual into German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. He returned to the university for one year and combined the study of geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
with courses on subjects such as highway and railway engineering. He shortly produced his first academic paper, the subject of which is the geology of terraces in southern Styria.
Early professional years
His first job was as a junior design engineer for the firm Adol Baron Pittle, Vienna. The firm was becoming more involved in the relatively new field of hydroelectric power generation, and Karl became involved in the geological problems the firm faced. His responsibilities quickly increased, and by 1908, he was already managing a construction site, workers, and the design and construction of steel reinforced structures. He embarked on an ambitious and challenging project to construct a hydroelectric dam in CroatiaCroatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. He went on with great success to an even more chaotic project in St. Petersburg. During six months in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, he developed some novel graphical methods for the design of industrial tanks, which he submitted as a thesis for his PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
at the university. His growing list of achievements began to open more opportunity to him. He resolved to go to the United States of America, which he did in 1912.
In the US, on his own, he undertook an engineering tour of major dam construction sites in the West. This was no ordinary tour, but was his opportunity to gather reports and first-hand knowledge of the problems of many different projects, and he used it to the fullest before returning to Austria in December 1913. When WWI broke out, he found himself drafted into the army as an officer directing a 250 man engineering battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
. His responsibilities further increased, to leading 1000 men, and he faced combat in Serbia and witnessed the fall of Belgrade. After a short stint managing an airfield, he became a professor in the Royal Ottoman College of Engineering in Istanbul (now Istanbul Technical University
Istanbul Technical University
Istanbul Technical University is an international technical university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the world's third oldest technical university dedicated to engineering sciences as well as social sciences recently, and is one of the most prominent educational institutions in Turkey...
).
Here he began a happy, very productive period, in which he began his lifelong work of bringing true engineering understanding to soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
as an engineering material whose properties could be measured in standardized ways. He set up a laboratory using only the most rudimentary of equipment, and began his revolution. His measurements and analysis of the force on retaining wall
Retaining wall
Retaining walls are built in order to hold back earth which would otherwise move downwards. Their purpose is to stabilize slopes and provide useful areas at different elevations, e.g...
s were first published in English in 1919, and was quickly recognized as an important new contribution to the scientific understanding of the fundamental behavior of soils.
At the end of the war, he was forced to resign his post at the University, but managed to find a new post at Robert College
Robert College
Robert College of Istanbul , is one of the most selective independent private high schools in Turkey. Robert College is a co-educational, boarding school with a wooded campus on the European side of Istanbul between the two bridges on the Bosphorus, with the Arnavutköy district to the east, and...
in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. Here he switched his teaching language from French to English, and again constructed a laboratory out of the most simple equipment. This time he studied various experimental and quantitative aspects of the permeability
Permeability (fluid)
Permeability in fluid mechanics and the earth sciences is a measure of the ability of a porous material to allow fluids to pass through it.- Units :...
of soils to water and was able to work out some theories to explain the observations. He invented entirely new apparatus for the measurements and put in many long days of work to carry out the measurements himself. In 1924 he published much of this in his Magnum Opus, Erdbaumechanik which revolutionized the field to great acclaim. It resulted in a job offer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
(MIT), which he immediately accepted.
Later years
One of his first tasks in the USA was to bring his work to the attention of engineers. This he proceeded to do by writing a series of articles for the Engineering News Record, which were published in the winter of 1925, then as a small book in 1926. He found the facilities at MIT abominable and obstruction from the administration. He brushed these obstacles aside, and once more set up a new laboratory geared to making measurements on soils with instruments of his own devising. He entered a new phase of prolific publication and a rapidly growing and lucrative involvement as an engineering consultant on many large-scale projects.In 1927, in an interesting co-incidence, Aurelia Schober Plath, subsequently to become the mother of the famous poet Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College, Cambridge before receiving acclaim as a professional poet and writer...
, worked as a secretary for Terzaghi. She was of Austrian descent and worked for Terzaghi translating a handwritten manuscript in German dealing with new principles of soil mechanics. After work they would have dinner together, when Terzaghi's sparkling conversation led her to Greek drama, Russian literature, the works of Hermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature...
, the poems of Rainer Maria Rilke
Rainer Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language...
, as well as the writings of great world philosophers. She claims the experience affected her for the rest of her life and that she "realized how narrow my world had been and that self-education could be and should be an exciting lifelong adventure. It was the beginning of my dream for the ideal education of the children I hoped some day to have."
From 1926 to 1932, Arthur Casagrande
Arthur Casagrande
Arthur Casagrande was an Austrian-born American civil engineer who made important contributions to the fields of engineering geology and geotechnical engineering during its infancy...
, another pioneer of soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering, worked as Terzaghi's private assistant at MIT.
Terzaghi was much sought after as a dinner companion and was a fascinating conversationalist. His striking good looks and evident power was very attractive to women. In 1928 he met the young Harvard doctoral student in geology, Ruth Dogget, and fell deeply in love.
In 1928, Terzaghi was finally fed up with MIT and its president, and determined to return to Europe. He accepted a chair at the Vienna Technische Hochshule in the winter of 1929. He married Ruth, who became his editor and collaborator as well. A short consulting trip to Russia before taking up his post horrified him, and he came to oppose the Communist system there as a regime exemplified by its brutality and chaos. Using Austria as his base he traveled ceaselessly throughout Europe, consulting and lecturing, and making new professional contacts and collaborations. His teaching workload was now relatively light, so he continued his experimental investigations, and became especially interested in the problems of the settling
Settling
Settling is the process by which particulates settle to the bottom of a liquid and form a sediment. Particles that experience a force, either due to gravity or due to centrifugal motion will tend to move in a uniform manner in the direction exerted by that force...
of foundations, and of grout
Grout
Grout is a construction material used to embed rebars in masonry walls, connect sections of pre-cast concrete, fill voids, and seal joints . Grout is generally composed of a mixture of water, cement, sand, often color tint, and sometimes fine gravel...
ing. He began writing the manuscript for a much updated and expanded version of Erdbaumechanik, now set for two volumes. However, the political turmoil in Austria began to interfere with his work, and in 1935 he decided to take a leave from Vienna during 1935 to 1936.
He began his sabbatical with a short trip to consult with Todt
Organisation Todt
The Todt Organisation, was a Third Reich civil and military engineering group in Germany named after its founder, Fritz Todt, an engineer and senior Nazi figure...
and the architects of the proposed grandiose plans for immense buildings at the Nazi's Party Day Rally
Nuremberg Rally
The Nuremberg Rally was the annual rally of the NSDAP in Germany, held from 1923 to 1938. Especially after Hitler's rise to power in 1933, they were large Nazi propaganda events...
site in Nuremberg. This led to a conflict over the best way to lay a sound foundation, which led to a discussion with Hitler himself, who took an intense interest in all details of the architecture. Terzaghi then returned to America where he gave a plenary lecture at the International Conference on Soil Mechanics at Harvard University. He made a lecture tour of many other universities, but discovered that prospects for employment were dim. He returned to Vienna in November 1936, shortly after the birth of his first son, Eric.
In Vienna, he returned to a nasty professional and political controversy, which he overcame only with some difficulty. He memorably stated "The Fatherland denoted me as a Nazi, the Nazis as a Bolshevik, and the Bolsheviks as a conservative idealist. Certainly only one of the three could be right, and that one is the Bolsheviks." He escaped from Vienna frequently by extended consulting trips to major construction projects in England, Italy, France, Algeria and Latvia, adding greatly to his store of practical engineering experience.
In 1938 Terzaghi emigrated to the United States and took up a post at Harvard University. Before the end of the war, he consulted on the Chicago Subway system, the Newport News Shipways construction, and raising the Normandie
SS Normandie
SS Normandie was an ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France for the French Line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. She entered service in 1935 as the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat; she is still the most powerful steam turbo-electric-propelled passenger ship ever built.Her novel...
, among others. He became an American citizen in March 1943. He was awarded the Frank P. Brown Medal in 1946. He remained as a part-timer at Harvard University until his retirement in 1953 at the mandatory age of 70. In July of the next year, he became the chairman of the Consulting Board for the construction of the Aswan High Dam. He resigned this post in 1959 after coming into conflict with the Russian engineers in charge of the project, but continued to consult on various hydroelectric projects, especially in British Columbia. He died in 1963 and his ashes interred in South Waterford, Maine, near "Bear's Corner," the family retreat.
Legacy
The American Society of Civil EngineersAmerican Society of Civil Engineers
The American Society of Civil Engineers is a professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. It is the oldest national engineering society in the United States. ASCE's vision is to have engineers positioned as global leaders who strive toward...
established in 1960 the Karl Terzaghi Award to an "author of outstanding contributions to knowledge in the fields of soil mechanics, subsurface and earthwork engineering, and subsurface and earthwork construction".https://www.asce.org/pressroom/honors/honors_details.cfm?hdlid=69 The Terzaghi and Peck Library, which is managed by the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, in Oslo, Norway holds an extensive collection of his papers. The Mission Dam in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada, was renamed in his honor as the Terzaghi Dam
Terzaghi Dam
Terzaghi Dam, located about 100 km NE of the resort of Whistler, British Columbia in western Canada, is the key diversion dam in the Bridge River Power Project. It forms the project's largest reservoir, Carpenter Lake west of Lillooet...
in 1965.
See also
- Consolidation (soil)
- Effective stressEffective stressKarl von Terzaghi first proposed the relationship for effective stress in 1936. For him, the term ‘effective’ meant the calculated stress that was effective in moving soil, or causing displacements...
- Engineering geologyEngineering geologyEngineering geology is the application of the geologic sciences to engineering practice for the purpose of assuring that the geologic factors affecting the location, design, construction, operation and maintenance of engineering works are recognized and adequately provided for...
- Geotechnical engineeringGeotechnical engineeringGeotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. Geotechnical engineering is important in civil engineering, but is also used by military, mining, petroleum, or any other engineering concerned with construction on or in the ground...
- Retaining wallRetaining wallRetaining walls are built in order to hold back earth which would otherwise move downwards. Their purpose is to stabilize slopes and provide useful areas at different elevations, e.g...
- Rock mass classifications
- Soil mechanicsSoil mechanicsSoil mechanics is a branch of engineering 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 and particles but soil may also contain organic solids, liquids, and gasses and other...
- SubsidenceSubsidenceSubsidence is the motion of a surface as it shifts downward relative to a datum such as sea-level. The opposite of subsidence is uplift, which results in an increase in elevation...
- Terzaghi's PrincipleTerzaghi's PrincipleTerzaghi's Principle states that when a rock is subjected to a stress, it is opposed by the fluid pressure of pores in the rock.More specifically, Karl von Terzaghi's Principle, also known as Terzaghi's theory of one-dimensional consolidation, states that all quantifiable changes in stress to a...
Books
- Terzaghi, K., Theoretical Soil Mechanics, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1943) ISBN 0-471-85305-4.
- Terzaghi, K., Peck, R. B.Ralph Brazelton PeckDr. Ralph Brazelton Peck was an eminent civil engineer specializing in soil mechanics. He died on February 18, 2008 from congestive heart failure...
and Mesri, G., Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice, 3rd Ed. Wiley-Interscience (1996) ISBN 0-471-08658-4. - Terzaghi, K., "Large Retaining Wall Tests", Engineering News Record Feb.1, March 8, April 19 (1934).
- Terzaghi, K., From theory to practice in soil mechanics;: Selections from the writings of Karl Terzaghi, with bibliography and contributions on his life and achievents John Wiley and Sons (1967).
- Terzaghi, K., Proctor, R. V. and White, T. L., "Rock Tunneling with Steel Supports," Commercial Shearing and Stamping Co. (1946).
- Terzaghi, K., American Society of Civil Engineers, "Terzaghi Lectures, 1974-1982," American Society of Civil Engineers (1986) ISBN 087262532X.