Five US Engineers recognized as "Legends of Earthquake Engineering"
Professors Ray W. Clough, George W. Housner, Nathan M. Newmark, Joseph Penzien, and H. Bolton Seed from the United States were recognized as "Legends of Earthquake Engineering" at a reception during the 14th World Conference of Earthquake Engineering held in Beijing, China in October. Three of the five US awardees are prominent UC Berkeley Civil Engineering professors--the largest group of awardees from a single institution in the world. The "Legends" were selected from a slate of candidates who made significant contributions to the field of earthquake engineering and were nominated by a list of 125 earthquake organizations worldwide. The final selection was based on a vote of the Asian-Pacific Network of Centers for Earthquake Engineering Research (ANCER) selection committee and resulted in the awarding of 13 international Legends of Earthquake Engineering. PEER would like to congratulate the recipients for their overwhelming contribution to the earthquake engineering community.
List of 13 Legends of Earthquake Engineering as announced at 14WCEE (PDF file, 163 KB)
The US awardees are as follows.
Ray W. Clough
University of California, Berkeley
From 1950-1995 Professor Ray W. Clough significantly contributed to the field of earthquake engineering through teaching, research and consulting. His most important research contribution in structural engineering was as a co-developer in the “Finite Element Method” (beginning with a classic paper in 1956 that he co-authored), which forever revolutionized the field of structural analysis and design, as well as many other disciplines that now uses this method for analysis. In the 1960s he developed a series of publications that contained pioneering methods for computer earthquake analysis of tall buildings, which became the basis for commercial computer programs, such as SAP 2000, now standard in engineering practice. He co-authored the book entitled, Dynamics of Structures, with J. Penzien which was a standard textbook used for over 20 years. He also was a consultant for several prominent tall buildings including San Francisco's TransAmerica Tower.
Joseph Penzien
University of California, Berkeley
Professor Penzien's pioneering research contributions cover a broad range of subject areas in structural engineering, including earthquake response of highway bridges, dynamic response of offshore oil-drilling platforms, and probabilistic methods in earthquake engineering. His teaching and research experience in dynamics of structures and earthquake engineering led to publication of the book, Dynamics of Structures, which he co-authored with R. W. Clough. The design of the first modern shake table in 1969 at U.C. Berkeley is attributed to Prof. Penzien. Even today this shake table is one of the largest in the United States and among the most sophisticated in the world.
H. Bolton Seed
University of California, Berkeley
Prof. H. Bolton Seed is known for his research regarding the analysis of soil-structure interaction, a specialization in structural engineering that had previously been completely undeveloped. He developed seismic site response analysis and promoted the evaluation of site effects on structural performance, approaches that are still used for modern earthquake design of structures. He also pioneered methods for assessment and mitigation of soil liquefaction hazard and seismic landslide potential that continue to be widely used. Prof. Seed's research in geotechnical issues and seismology formed the basis for much of present-day seismic design.
George Housner
California Institute of Technology
Professor George Housner pioneered many of the important concepts in modern earthquake engineering, including the development of the response spectrum as an engineering tool, the probabilistic estimation of earthquake risk, the mathematical modeling of strong ground motion and the analysis of the nonlinear response of structures. He was also a leader in the development, deployment and use of strong motion instrumentation and in the development of shaking machines for measuring the dynamic properties of buildings, dams and other structures. As a consultant and advisor he contributed to the earthquake safety of the California Water Project, the California Bay Area Rapid Transit system, tall buildings, nuclear power plants and offshore drilling platforms. His professional and public service included president of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, and of the Seismological Society of America, chairman of the National Research Council's Committee on Earthquake Engineering Research and chairman of the California Governor's Board of Inquiry on the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.
Nathan M. Newmark
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Professor Nathan M. Newmark is a key contributor to earthquake engineering as a designer and researcher. He contributed to the seismic design of over 75 nuclear power plants, the Trans-Atlantic Pipeline, and the Latino Americana Tower which survived the 1985 Mexico City Earthquake. In 1976 he pioneered and initiated the USA Congressionally mandated National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP). Prof. Newmark served as a principal technical adviser for the first modern seismic design provisions and developed several methods used in structural mechanics for the analysis and design of structures.
posted OCTOBER 29, 2008