The Rankine Lecture is hosted in March each year by the British Geotechnical Association. It is widely viewed as the most prestigious of the invited lectures in Geotechnics

Geotechnics

Geotechnics is the application of scientific methods and engineering principles to the acquisition, interpretation, and use of knowledge of materials of the Earth's crust and earth materials for the solution of engineering problems...

.

The lecture commemorates W. J. M. Rankine

William John Macquorn Rankine

William John Macquorn Rankine was a Scottish civil engineer, physicist and mathematician. He was a founding contributor, with Rudolf Clausius and William Thomson , to the science of thermodynamics....

, Professor of Civil Engineering

Civil engineering

Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...

 at Glasgow University, who was one of the first engineers in the UK to make a significant contribution to 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...

, and is best known for his theory for the earth pressure on retaining walls. From 1961 to 1972 the lecture was held at the Institution of Civil Engineers

Institution of Civil Engineers

Founded on 2 January 1818, the Institution of Civil Engineers is an independent professional association, based in central London, representing civil engineering. Like its early membership, the majority of its current members are British engineers, but it also has members in more than 150...

, but since 1973 has taken place at Imperial College

Imperial College London

Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...

. In even-numbered years the lecturer is from the UK, and in odd-numbered years from overseas. Each lecture is published in Géotechnique, together with the text of the biographical introduction and the vote of thanks.

List of Rankine Lecturers

No	YEAR	LECTURER	SUBJECT
1	1961	A. 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...	Control of seepage through foundations and abutments of dams
2	1962	L. F. Cooling	Field measurements in soil mechanics
3	1963	A. Meyer	Recent work in rock mechanics
4	1964	A. W. Skempton Alec Skempton Sir Alec Skempton FRS was a leader in and founding father of Soil Mechanics. As a founding member of the Institution of Civil Engineers' Soil Mechanics and Foundations committees he studied at City and Guilds College London and established the Soil Mechanics course at Imperial College London,...	Long-term stability of clay slopes
5	1965	N. M. Newmark Nathan M. Newmark Nathan Mortimore Newmark was an American structural engineer and academic. He was awarded the National Medal of Science for engineering.-Early life:...	Effects of earthquakes on dams and embankments
6	1966	A. W. Bishop Alan W. Bishop Professor Alan Wilfred Bishop MA PhD DIC DSc was a British Geotechnical Engineer and an academic at Imperial College London.He was known for the Bishop's method of analysing soil slopes. After his graduation from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Bishop worked under Alec Skempton and obtained his PhD...	The strength of soils as engineering materials
7	1967	L. Bjerrum	Engineering geology of Norwegian normally-consolidated marine clays as related to settlements of buildings
8	1968	R. Glossop	The rise of geotechnology and its influence on engineering pracice
9	1969	R. B. Peck	Advantages and limitations of the observational method in applied soil mechanics
10	1970	K. H. Roscoe	The influence of strains in soil mechanics
11	1971	J. C. Jaeger	Friction of rocks and stability of rock slopes
12	1972	P. W. Rowe	The relevance of soil fabric to site investigation practice
13	1973	T. W. Lambe	Predictions in soil engineering
14	1974	R. E. Gibson	The analytical method in soil mechanics
15	1975	J. Kerisel	Old structures in relation to soil conditions
16	1976	A. C. Meigh	The Triassic rocks, with particular reference to predicted and observed performance of some major foundations
17	1977	V. F. B. de Mello	Reflections on design decisions of practical significance to embankment dams
18	1978	W. H. Ward	Ground supports for tunnels in weak rocks
19	1979	H. Bolton Seed Harry Bolton Seed Harry Bolton Seed was an educator, scholar, former Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He was regarded as the founding father of the Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering.-Early life:...	Considerations in the earthquake-resistant design of earth and rockfill dams
20	1980	A. N. Schofield Andrew N. Schofield -Life:Andrew N. Schofield was born on 1 November 1930, son of Rev John Noel Schofield and Winifred Jane Mary Eyles in Cambridge, England. He married Margaret Eileen Green in 1961 . He retired from Cambridge University in 1997.-Career:...	Cambridge geotechnical centrifuge operations
21	1981	N. R. Morgenstern	Geotechnical engineering and frontier resource development
22	1982	D. J. Henkel	Geology, geomorphology and geotechnics
23	1983	E. Hoek	Strength of jointed rock masses
24	1984	C. P. Wroth	The interpretation of in situ soil tests
25	1985	N. Janbu	Soil models in offshore engineering
26	1986	A. D. M. Penman	On the embankment dam
27	1987	R. F. Scott	Failure
28	1988	H. B. Sutherland	Uplift resistance in soils
29	1989	H. G. Poulos	Pile behaviour - theory and application
30	1990	J. B. Burland John Burland John Boscawen Burland CBE, DSc, FREng, FRS is an Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Investigator at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Imperial College London.-Early education:...	On the compressibility and shear strength of natural clays
31	1991	J. K. Mitchell	Conduction phenomena: from theory to geotechnical practice
32	1992	B. Simpson	Retaining structures: displacement and design
33	1993	K. Ishihara	Liquefaction and flow failure during earthquakess
34	1994	P. R. Vaughan Peter Rolfe Vaughan Peter Rolfe Vaughan, BSc, PhD, DSc, ACGI, DIC, FREng, FICE, FCGI, MASCE, FGS, was Emeritus Professor of Ground Engineering in the Geotechnics department of Imperial College London.-Biography:...	Assumption, prediction and reality in geotechnical engineering
35	1995	R. E. Goodman	Block theory and its application
36	1996	S. F. Brown	Soil mechanics in pavement engineering
37	1997	G. E. Blight	Interactions between the atmosphere and the Earth
38	1998	D. W. Hight	Soil characterisation: the importance of structure and anisotropy
39	1999	S. Leroueil	Natural slopes and cuts: movement and failure mechanisms
40	2000	J. H. Atkinson John Atkinson John Atkinson may refer to:* John Atkinson, Baron Atkinson , Irish lawyer and politician* John Atkinson John Atkinson may refer to:* John Atkinson, Baron Atkinson (1844–1932), Irish lawyer and politician* John Atkinson (Australian politician) John Atkinson may refer to:* John Atkinson, Baron...	Non-linear soil stiffness in routine design
41	2001	H. Brandl	Energy foundations and other thermo-active ground structures
42	2002	D. M. Potts	Numerical analysis: a virtual dream or practical reality?
43	2003	M. F. Randolph	Science and empiricism in pile foundation design
44	2004	N. N. Ambraseys Nicolas Ambraseys Professor Nicolas Neocles Ambraseys Dip.Eng DIC PhD FICE FREng is a Greek Engineering Seismologist...	Engineering, seismology and soil mechanics
45	2005	R. K. Rowe	Long term performance of contaminant barrier systems
46	2006	R. J. Mair Robert Mair Robert James Mair CBE FREng FICE FRS is a British geotechnologist. He was appointed Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at Cambridge University in 1998, succeeding Andrew Noel Schofield. He was Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge from 1998 to 2001, when he became Master of Jesus College,...	Tunnelling and geotechnics - new horizons
47	2007	A. Gens	Soil-environment interactions in geotechnical engineering
48	2008	A. Charles	The engineering behaviour of fill - the use, misuse and disuse of case histories
49	2009	T. O'Rourke	Geohazards & Large Geographically Distributed Systems
50	2010	C. R. I. Clayton	Stiffness at small strain - research and practice
51	2011	S. W. Sloan	Geotechnical Stability Analysis