Karl Von Terzaghi

He was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1883. After graduating from an Austrian technical college, he practiced engineering in Vienna; in 1916 he went to Istanbul to teach and in 1918 joined the faculty of Robert College there. He first came to the USA in 1925 to teach at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1925--9), then went to Vienna to teach (1929--38), returning to the USA in 1939; he became a citizen in 1943 and taught at Harvard (1946--56). He was the advisor of one of the earliest doctoral theses awarded at MIT, Boston, MA, in all engineering fields.

He presented to the world the new science, Soil Mechanics, that he developed mainly while working at ITU and Bogazici University.

In this monumental work he lays it all out: consolidation theory, settlement calculations, bearing capacity theory, lateral earth pressures and retaining walls, shear strength and slope stability. In all cases he makes it clear that he is doing all that to be able to solve real world problems.

He always gives design/analysis charts to make it easier for the engineer to apply the theories he developed or reorganized and perfected for practical use.