KARL TERZAGHI (1883-1963)

M. V. Malyshev UDC624.131(092)

Karl T e r z a g h i was born on October 2, 1883 in Prague, then a

p a r t of Austro-Hungary, into the family of a m i l i t a r y man. After being
graduated from a technical high school, he entered the Technical Uni-
v e r s i t y of Graz (Austria), which he completed in 1904 at 20 y e a r s of
age, having received the diploma of a m e c h a n i c a l engineer. But T e r -
zaghi was attracted to geology, and in 1906 he participated in an ex-
pedition to Greenland as a geologist. In 1912 Terzaghi received at the
same u n i v e r s i t y in Graz the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences.
In the s a m e year he left for the USA, where for two y e a r s he was en-
gaged in p r o b l e m s of surveying for dams and drawing up geological
r e p o r t s . In 1913 T e r z a g h i r e t u r n e d to Austria and soon t h e r e a f t e r was
called into the a r m y in connection with the s t a r t of the world war.
In 1916 he received an a s s i g n m e n t to the Imperial school in Istan-
bul, where he worked under the renown p r o f e s s o r of hydraulics P.
F o r c h h e i m e r , who had known Terzaghi while still in Graz. P r a c t i c a l l y from this time on (1917) T e r z a g h i
began to study the construction p r o p e r t i e s of soils important for their p r a c t i c a l use. T e r z a g h i lived until
1925 in Turkey, where he wrote his f i r s t basic book " E r d b a u m e c h a n i k auf bodenphysikalischer Grundlage."
In 1933 the translation of this book under the title "Stroitel'naya Mekhanika Gruntov," accomplished by A.
A. Cherkasov, P. S. Ruban, and P. P. Smirenkin under the editorship and with the annotation of Prof. N. M.
Gersevanov, was published in our country.
Between 1925 and 1929 T e r z a g h i worked in the USA at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, t r a v -
eling to a number of South A m e r i c a n countries for consultation.
His next decade was again a s s o c i a t e d with Europe. In 1930 T e r z a g h i began to teach in Vienna at the
Technical University. Several times during this period he came to our country as a consultant. In 1929-
1931 he was at the construction of the Lower Svir h y d r o e l e c t r i c station and Bobrikovsk Chemical Combine,
advised on the plan and went out to the proposed route of the Volga-Don canal, lectured at Moscow State
University on e a r t h p r e s s u r e on retaining wails, and in 1935-1936 was at the construction of the Lower Svir
and, later, Mingechaur h y d r o e l e c t r i c stations and the Chirchik E l e c t r o c h e m i c a l Combine. This was his last
trip to the USSR. He was in Russia the f i r s t time in 1910 at the c o n s t r u c t i o n of one of the buildings in St.
P etersburgo
The y e a r 1936 is significant for the formation of the International Society- of Soil Mechanics and Foun-
dation Engineering. The c r e a t o r and the f i r s t president of the society, beginning with that y e a r and for 20
y e a r s , was K. Terzaghi. The principles of the s o c i e t y were enunciated at the F i r s t International Congress
on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering held in June 1936 in Cambridge (USA), to which K. T e r z a g h i
sent a m e s s a g e . As p r e s i d e n t of the society, he actively participated in all international c o n g r e s s e s .
In 1938 Terzaghi, after the F a s c i s t occupation of Austria, e m i g r a t e d to the USA and began working at
H a r v a r d University, having simultaneously a l a r g e consultation p r a c t i c e in various countries.
In 1943 his second m a j o r work was published, the book " T h e o r e t i c a l Soil Mechanics," which was also
t r a n s l a t e d into Russian and published in 1961 under the title " T e o r i y a Mekhaniki Gruntov" (editor N. A.
Tsytovtch). The third significant publication of K. Terzaghi, the book "Soil Mechanics in Engineering P r a c -
tice," dates to 1948. It also was t r a n s l a t e d into Russian under the title "Mekhanika Gruntov v Inzhenernoi

T r a n s l a t e d from Osnovaniya, Fandamenty i Mekhanika Gruntov, No. 4, pp. 15-16, July-August, 1973.

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 P r a k t i k e " (editor Prof. M. N. Gol'dshtein) and was published in our country in 1958. Prof. R. P e c k was
c o - a u t h o r of this book.
In 1957, at the Fourth International Congress on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering held in
London, T e r z a g h i was elected h o n o r a r y p r e s i d e n t of the s o c i e t y and the title was held by h i m until his death.
T e r z a g h i died in Winchester (USA) on October 25, 1963 in his 81st y e a r . He lived a full life and is
rightfully c o n s i d e r e d the s c i e n t i s t who founded the p r i n c i p l e s of m o d e r n soil m e c h a n i c s . In the p r e f a c e to
the f i r s t book " E r d b a u m e c h a n i k , " which b e c a m e the initial book for m a n y s p e c i a l i s t s in its t i m e , he wrote:
"...the author has directed his f i r s t efforts e x c l u s i v e l y to a d e e p e r p e n e t r a t i o n f r o m the standpoint of physics
into the e s s e n c e of the s i m p l e s t f a c t o r s which h e r e t o f o r e have been c o n s i d e r e d e l e m e n t a r y , as, f o r e x a m -
ple, the internal friction of soils, cohesion, drying, and swelling. The r e s u l t s of investigations have yielded
m a t e r i a l for working hypotheses which in t u r n acted as a stimulus on the c o u r s e of e x p e r i m e n t a l i n v e s t i g a -
tions .... " In this w o r k he examined for the f i r s t t i m e the m e c h a n i c a l effect of the m i n e r a l skeleton of the
soil and of the w a t e r s a t u r a t i n g its p o r e s , i.e., laid the b a s i s of the t h e o r y of consolidation, p r o p o s e d a
m o d e r n c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of soils, and developed methods of d e t e r m i n i n g the m e c h a n i c a l p r o p e r t i e s of softs
and of calculating s e t t l e m e n t s . Subsequent developments showed that not everything in T e r z a g h i ' s w o r k s
was i r r e p r o a c h a b l e , but the t i m e and l a b o r of a n u m b e r of i n v e s t i g a t o r s w e r e needed to give a m o r e c o r r e c t
i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of o b s e r v a t i o n r e s u l t s .
T e r z a g h i was c h a r a c t e r i z e d by a p r a c t i c a l direction of his investigations. Ha~ing s t a r t e d his activi-
ties as a geologist and conceiving well softs in s t r a t a with all t h e i r c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s , he delved deep into
t h e o r e t i c a l developments within sufficiently s i m p l e engineering s c h e m e s and constantly r e s o r t e d to the
e s s e n c e of the phenomenon and to e x p e r i m e n t .
K. TerzaghiTs l a s t two books w e r e t r a n s l a t e d into Russian m u c h l a t e r than their publication in the
original. T h e r e f o r e , they w e r e not so t i m e l y for a wide range of our r e a d e r s as the f i r s t book. But despite
this, the ideas and i n f o r m a t i o n contained in t h e m a r e of definite i n t e r e s t even at p r e s e n t . In the book " T h e o -
r e t i c a l Soil Mechanics" the author e x p r e s s e s c o n s i d e r a t i o n s whose topicality is unquestionable even now:
" T h e o r e t i c a l investigations in the a r e a of soil m e c h a n i c s r e p r e s e n t only working hypotheses, since our
knowledge about the a v e r a g e physical p r o p e r t i e s of soils in foundations and about the boundaries between
individual soil l a y e r s is p r e s e n t l y still insufficient .... " He also calls attention to an i m p o r t a n t c i r c u m -
stance, which is often overlooked on c o m p a r i n g the r e s u l t s of t h e o r e t i c a l d e v e l o p m e n t s and o b s e r v a t i o n
data: %..the i m a g i n a r y contradiction between t h e o r y and p r a c t i c e can be explained b y the e r r o n e o u s i n t e r -
p r e t a t i o n of the l i m i t s of applicability of theory. ~
K. T e r z a g h i published n u m e r o u s works, 256 between 1906 and 1960. The collection 0t[ all m a t e r i a l s
pertaining to the p r a c t i c a l activities of T e r z a g h i , his m a n u s c r i p t s , was a c c o m p l i s h e d by the d i r e c t o r of the
Norwegian Geotechnic Institute, L. B j e r r u m . A special TTTerzaghi L i b r a r y " was organized at this Institute,
located in Oslo, where the originals of the m a j o r i t y of T e r z a g h i ' s works p r e s e n t l y existing a r e stored. Its
stocks a r e being built up even now.
Soil m e c h a n i c s is p r e s e n t l y an independent scientific discipline b a s e d on r e g u l a r i t i e s inherent to
d i s p e r s e d media. The r e s u l t s attained a r e quite significant and have yielded a g r e a t p r a c t i c a l benefit.
Many s p e c i a l i s t s of v a r i o u s countries have b e c o m e involved in the work. T h e i r activities a r e c a r r i e d out
within the f r a m e w o r k of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, which now
n u m b e r s about 10,000 s p e c i a l i s t s f r o m a l m o s t 50 countries. T h e i r w o r k is g r e a t l y facilitated owing to the
w e l l - o r g a n i z e d exchange of information on r e s u l t s obtained. The s p e c i a l i s t s a r e able to m e e t at r e g u l a r
international and regional c o n g r e s s e s and to publish their r e s u l t s .
In August of this y e a r , i m m e d i a t e l y a f t e r the completion of the Eighth International C o n g r e s s on Soil
Mechanics and Foundation Engineering in our country, a s e m i n a r is being held in Istanbul (Turkey) devoted
to the m e m o r y of P r o f . K. T e r z a g h i , which is to coincide with the 90th a n n i v e r s a r y of his birth. This
s e m i n a r is being held at the u n i v e r s i t y w h e r e T e r z a g h i worked between 1916 and 1925 and c r e a t e d his f i r s t
book on soil m e c h a n i c s which brought him world renown.
We give Prof. K. T e r z a g h i - outstanding engineer, scientist, p r a c t i c a l w o r k e r , initiator of the c r e a t i o n
of our international organization - his due for s e r v i c e s and r e f e r to his name and t e g a c y with e s t e e m .

258
 LITERATURE CITED
I. From Theory to Practice in Soil Mechanics. Selection from the Writings of Karl Terzaghi with Bib-
liography and Contributions on Life and Achievements, Prepared by L. Bjerrum, A. Casagrande,
R. B. Peck, and ~. W. Skempton, Wiley (1960).
2o Terzaghi Memorial Session. Sixth International Conference on Soil Mechanics, Montreal, September
8, 1965. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engi-
neering, Vol. III (1967).

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