Contribution to the knowledge of early geotechnics during the 20th century: Laurits Bjerrum
<p>The founder of soil mechanics, Karl Terzaghi, took the initiative in 1954 to contact the Danish engineer Laurits Bjerrum, requesting to meet. Terzaghi wanted to meet the engineer who had written a paper on the stability of the unusual Norwegian quick clays at the European Slope Congress in...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2025-02-01
|
| Series: | History of Geo- and Space Sciences |
| Online Access: | https://hgss.copernicus.org/articles/16/1/2025/hgss-16-1-2025.pdf |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832544204902891520 |
|---|---|
| author | G. Guillán-Llorente B. Muñoz-Medina A. Lara-Galera R. Galindo-Aires |
| author_facet | G. Guillán-Llorente B. Muñoz-Medina A. Lara-Galera R. Galindo-Aires |
| author_sort | G. Guillán-Llorente |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>The founder of soil mechanics, Karl Terzaghi, took the initiative in 1954 to contact the Danish engineer Laurits Bjerrum, requesting to meet. Terzaghi wanted to meet the engineer who had written a paper on the stability of the unusual Norwegian quick clays at the European Slope Congress in Stockholm. Bjerrum was 36 years old at the time, had a PhD and was already director of the NGI (Norges Geotekniske Institutt – Norwegian Geotechnical Institute). From his position as director of the NGI, he was actively involved in many varied consultancies, placing great value on the continuous interaction between practice and research. Bjerrum's strategy for establishing the NGI came from the experience of other research centres such as the BRS (Building Research Station) in Great Britain and Imperial College London. In addition, having lived through the Nazi occupation of Denmark, he was predisposed to be against the misuse of authority and established an open structure for the institute from its inception. Bjerrum was in close contact with the Norwegian Institution of Technology, and, in 1952, he succeeded in getting soil mechanics incorporated as a compulsory subject in the civil engineering degree. Subsequently, in 1960, the Chair of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering was established. The first laboratory of this chair was equipped with material donated by the NGI. Bjerrum died young (54 years old), but he had built an excellent reputation through his work at the NGI and his contributions to international conferences, where he maintained a close relationship with the significant figures in geotechnics: Terzaghi, Skempton, Peck and Casagrande. He made regular trips to the USA, where he was a visiting professor at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and received the highest international decorations.</p> |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6e86eae8c925465983cbb29be00b7d9b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2190-5010 2190-5029 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | History of Geo- and Space Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-6e86eae8c925465983cbb29be00b7d9b2025-02-03T10:48:10ZengCopernicus PublicationsHistory of Geo- and Space Sciences2190-50102190-50292025-02-011611210.5194/hgss-16-1-2025Contribution to the knowledge of early geotechnics during the 20th century: Laurits BjerrumG. Guillán-Llorente0B. Muñoz-Medina1A. Lara-Galera2R. Galindo-Aires3Technical School of Civil Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, 28040, SpainTechnical School of Civil Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, 28040, SpainTechnical School of Civil Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, 28040, SpainTechnical School of Civil Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, 28040, Spain<p>The founder of soil mechanics, Karl Terzaghi, took the initiative in 1954 to contact the Danish engineer Laurits Bjerrum, requesting to meet. Terzaghi wanted to meet the engineer who had written a paper on the stability of the unusual Norwegian quick clays at the European Slope Congress in Stockholm. Bjerrum was 36 years old at the time, had a PhD and was already director of the NGI (Norges Geotekniske Institutt – Norwegian Geotechnical Institute). From his position as director of the NGI, he was actively involved in many varied consultancies, placing great value on the continuous interaction between practice and research. Bjerrum's strategy for establishing the NGI came from the experience of other research centres such as the BRS (Building Research Station) in Great Britain and Imperial College London. In addition, having lived through the Nazi occupation of Denmark, he was predisposed to be against the misuse of authority and established an open structure for the institute from its inception. Bjerrum was in close contact with the Norwegian Institution of Technology, and, in 1952, he succeeded in getting soil mechanics incorporated as a compulsory subject in the civil engineering degree. Subsequently, in 1960, the Chair of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering was established. The first laboratory of this chair was equipped with material donated by the NGI. Bjerrum died young (54 years old), but he had built an excellent reputation through his work at the NGI and his contributions to international conferences, where he maintained a close relationship with the significant figures in geotechnics: Terzaghi, Skempton, Peck and Casagrande. He made regular trips to the USA, where he was a visiting professor at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and received the highest international decorations.</p>https://hgss.copernicus.org/articles/16/1/2025/hgss-16-1-2025.pdf |
| spellingShingle | G. Guillán-Llorente B. Muñoz-Medina A. Lara-Galera R. Galindo-Aires Contribution to the knowledge of early geotechnics during the 20th century: Laurits Bjerrum History of Geo- and Space Sciences |
| title | Contribution to the knowledge of early geotechnics during the 20th century: Laurits Bjerrum |
| title_full | Contribution to the knowledge of early geotechnics during the 20th century: Laurits Bjerrum |
| title_fullStr | Contribution to the knowledge of early geotechnics during the 20th century: Laurits Bjerrum |
| title_full_unstemmed | Contribution to the knowledge of early geotechnics during the 20th century: Laurits Bjerrum |
| title_short | Contribution to the knowledge of early geotechnics during the 20th century: Laurits Bjerrum |
| title_sort | contribution to the knowledge of early geotechnics during the 20th century laurits bjerrum |
| url | https://hgss.copernicus.org/articles/16/1/2025/hgss-16-1-2025.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gguillanllorente contributiontotheknowledgeofearlygeotechnicsduringthe20thcenturylauritsbjerrum AT bmunozmedina contributiontotheknowledgeofearlygeotechnicsduringthe20thcenturylauritsbjerrum AT alaragalera contributiontotheknowledgeofearlygeotechnicsduringthe20thcenturylauritsbjerrum AT rgalindoaires contributiontotheknowledgeofearlygeotechnicsduringthe20thcenturylauritsbjerrum |