Ralph B. Peck, 1912 - 2008

February 18, 2008, Ralph Brazelton Peck died at the age of 95. Dr. Peck was Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and one of the last living colleagues of Dr. Karl Terzaghi, the founder and guiding spirit of modern soil mechanics. These men, along with other prominent names in the profession, such as Casagrande, transformed soil mechanics and foundation engineering from what was, for the most part, an art, into a science based on reason, theory and judgement thereby essentially creating the science of geomechanics, and opening the door to punks like me who loved to play in the dirt and decided to make a living out of it.

Professor Peck wrote, among many other publications, two landmark texts that have defined our profession. We read Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice (Terzaghi and Peck) and studied Foundation Engineering (Peck, Hanson, and Thornburn) in school, and my trusty old copy of Foundation Engineering still resides at my desk and remains one of my principal references.

Professor Peck alway emphasized the value of engineering judgement in practice, and I cannot recount here all of the case histories, papers, and text references that I have read and studied that have been credited to Professor Peck, but suffice it to say that his works remain some of the most highly respected writings in the sciences of soil mechanics and foundation engineering.

I had the honor of meeting Professor Peck on one occasion, when he was the Keynote Speaker at our local Ohio River Valley Soil Seminar (ORVSS) He was advanced in years, but the respect and admiration of the attendees was evident. Everyone brought their copy of Foundation Engineering (except for me - I forgot mine) for his autograph, and I found it entertaining that he would only sign the copies that looked as if they had been well-used.

Dr. Peck worked on such projects as the Chicago subways, the World Trade Center, and the post-failure study of Teton Dam, and has probably contributed in some form to virtually all of the engineering landmarks of modern times.

So in summation, the passage of Professor Peck represents the end of the beginning. Soil mechanics and foundation engineering has become the science and profession that it is principally in part due to the contributions of such giants as Ralph Peck.

Professor Peck, rest in peace, you may have never realized the influence your contributions had on the lives so many.