“Biography of Karl Terzaghi, the Father of Soil Mechanics”

To a civil engineer it is important to understand the basic properties

of soil, considering it supports every structural foundation. Some of these
properties include its origin, shear strength and load-bearing capacity. The
branch of science that concerns itself with the study of the physical
properties of soil, along with the behavior of soil masses undergoing various
types of forces is referred to as soil mechanics.

Karl von Terzaghi (1883-1963) was the first to elaborate a

comprehensive mechanics of soils with his publication of Erdbaumechanik in
1925. His recognition and formulation of the effective stress principle and its
influence on settlement analysis, strength, permeability and erosion of soils
was his most prodigious contribution. But Terzaghi is also pioneered a great
range of methods and procedures for investigation, analysis, testing,
instrumentation, and practice that defined much of the field we currently
known as geotechnical engineering.

Karl Terzaghi, born October 2, 1883 in Prague (Czech Republic)

and died October 25, 1963 in Winchester, Massachusetts, is generally recognized as the Father of Soil Mechanics.
His early professional life was spent in a search for a rational approach to earthwork engineering problems. His
efforts were rewarded with the publication in 1925 of his famous book on soil mechanics: this publication is now
credited as being the birth of soil mechanics.

He studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University in Graz, graduating in 1904, then he worked
as an engineer for several years; he was awarded a doctorate in engineering by the same institution in 1911. After
visiting the United States, he served in the Austrian Air Force during World War I, but in 1916 he accepted a position
with the Imperial School of Engineers, Istanbul.

Terzaghi was a multi-dimensional man with a keen passion for art, literature and music but especially
nature. And as Goodman notes: 'These were best enjoyed in the company of women.' There are various colourful
references to this predilection, particularly during Terzaghi's earlier and wilder years.

Foundation engineering became his focus with an early realisation of the importance of geology and the
need to integrate theory with practice, which became the core theme of his life and work. 'Theory is the language by
means of which lessons of experience can be clearly expressed. When there is no theory, as in earth construction,
there is no collected wisdom, merely incomprehensible fragments.'

His measurements and analysis of the force on retaining walls 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. After the end of World War I, he accepted a lectureship at the American Robert College in Istanbul (1918–
1925). There he began his research work on the behavior of soils and settlement of clays and on the failure due to
piping in sand under dams. In 1924 he published much of this in his Magnum Opus, Erdbaumechanik which
revolutionized the field to great acclaim.

Between 1925 and 1929, Terzaghi was at M.I.T. initiating the first U.S. program in soil mechanics and
causing soil mechanics to be widely recognized as an important discipline in civil engineering. In 1938 he joined the
faculty at Harvard University where he developed and gave his course in engineering geology.

He became an American citizen in March 1943. 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.

The American Society of Civil Engineers 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 map of Egypt showing the location of Aswan and Lake Nasser.

Through his voluminous correspondence with engineers and scientists, his lifelong devotion to publishing,
both research findings and practical experiences, his numerous public lectures, and his authorship of clear and
complete procedures in many engineering reports, Terzaghi disseminated advances in soils engineering that
influence the entire civil engineering world.

Terzaghi's amazing career is well documented in the book From Theory to Practice in Soil Mechanics
(Wiley, 1960). All of Terzaghi's publications through 1960 (256) are listed in this book. Terzaghi won many honors,
including the Norman Medal of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1930, 1943, 1946, and 1955.

Terzaghi was given nine honorary doctorate degrees coming from universities in eight different countries.
He served for many years as President of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering.
Not only did Terzaghi start soil mechanics but he exerted a profound influence on it until his death. Two days before
he died he was diligently working on a professional paper.

Terzaghi's writings contain significant contributions on many topics, especially consolidation

theory, foundation design and construction, coffer dam analysis, and landslide mechanisms. Probably Terzaghi's
most important contribution to the profession was his approach to engineering problems, which he taught and
demonstrated.