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Memorial Tributes: Volume 5 (1992)

Chapter: Harry Bolton Seed

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Suggested Citation:"Harry Bolton Seed." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Memorial Tributes: Volume 5. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1966.
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Page 246
Suggested Citation:"Harry Bolton Seed." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Memorial Tributes: Volume 5. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1966.
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Page 247
Suggested Citation:"Harry Bolton Seed." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Memorial Tributes: Volume 5. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1966.
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Page 248
Suggested Citation:"Harry Bolton Seed." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Memorial Tributes: Volume 5. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1966.
×
Page 249
Suggested Citation:"Harry Bolton Seed." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Memorial Tributes: Volume 5. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1966.
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Page 250
Suggested Citation:"Harry Bolton Seed." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Memorial Tributes: Volume 5. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1966.
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Page 251

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HARRY BOLTON SEED 1922-1989 BY JAMES K. MITCHELL MARRY BOLTON SEED was born in Bolton, England, on August 19, 1922. He studiecI at King's College, London University, receiving the B.Sc. in civil engineering in 1944 and the Ph.D. in structural engineering in 1947. Following two years as assistant lecturer at King's, he came to the Uniter! States to study soil mechanics at Harvard University under the tutelage of Karl Terzaghi and Arthur Casagrande. He received the S.M. from Harvard in 1948 and spent the next year as an instructor. This was follower! by a year as a foundation engineer for Thomas Worcester, Incorporated, in Boston. In 1950 Professor Seedjoined the civil engineering faculty at the University of California, where he spent the remainder of his career as an engineering educator, researcher in geotechnical engineering, and consultant to numerous companies and gov- ernment agencies. He built the program in geotechnical engi- neering at Berkeley into one of the largest and best in the worlcl. A major factor in this development was his bringing colleagues together from different areas of geotechnical engineering, in- cluding geological engineering and rock mechanics, as well as soil mechanics and foundation engineering. He served as chair- man of the Civil Engineering Department from 1965 to 1971, a period duringwhich it rose to number one ranking in the United States for the quality of its graduate programs. Professor Seed had an enormous impact on every area of .~ - - .~ ~ 247

248 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES research activity in which he worked. His early work on the mechanics of pile foundations still forms the basis of modern methods of pile-soil interaction. His research on soil compaction and the influences of methods of compaction on soil structure and mechanical properties provides the foundation for current unclerstanding. His contributions to analytical methods of pave- ment design were of the first rank. About 1960 he introduced the field of geotechnical earth- quake engineering, and he is recognized worldwide as the "father" of this field. His pioneering studies includecl the devel- opment of methods for site response analysis, for the analysis of soil-structure interaction, for seismicity evaluation, and for as- sessment of liquefaction potential. The results of his research have led to a total revision of concepts and methods for earth- quake-resistant design of earth dams, nuclear power plants, coastal facilities, and building foundations, as well as revision of codes of practice, design procedures, and regulations. This work, founded on sound scientific principles, has been adopted throughout the world. He served as a consultant on projects all over the world and to virtually every major federal agency and large engineering organization in the United States. Through his research Professor Seed developed design meth- ocis that revolutionized many aspects of engineering practice and thinking. They have had enormous influence on the safety of critical structures such as major dams, nuclear power plants, and high-rise buildings. His investigations of major disasters, such as the 1964 Great Alaska earthquake, the 1971 San Fernan- clo earthquake in California, the 1976 failure of the Teton Dam, the 1979 slide at the Port of Nice in France, and the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, have, with the aid of modern methyls of analysis and experimental techniques, led to a basic understand- ing of their causes en cl to the measures that must be taken to prevent similar occurrences in the future. His selection by the government of Egypt, underAID sponsorship, to make a seismic safety evaluation of the Aswan High Dam placed the safety of literally millions of people in his hancls. His work in all these areas will have an impact on the world for generations to come. Harry Seecl's work as an engineering educator, scholar, and

HARRY BOLTON SEED 249 servant of his profession was unsurpassed. He was the epitome of a mode] scholar, devoted to the advancement of engineering science and practice. He devoted large amounts of time to public service activities. He was always brilliant as a public speaker and was recognized for years as the best lecturer and teacher in his department. He guided fifty Ph.D. candiciates to the successful completion of their dissertation research; many of them have gone on to distinguished careers of their own in the geotechni- cal engineering field. His writings nearly three hundred pa- pers and reports are exceptionally lucid and insightful and provide eloquent testimony, as well as a lasting record of his work. He was active, maintaining a full schedule of teaching, research, and professional activity until very shortly before his death. Professor Seer! recieved many awards and honors for his contributions. Among them are more awards from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) than any other engineer in the history of the society. These include the Norman Medal twice, the ]. James Croes Medal three times, the Thomas A. Middle- brooks Award four times, the Thomas Fitch Rowland Prize, the Arthur M. Wellington Prize, the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineer- ing Research Prize, and the Karl Terzaghi Award. For his excel- lence as an educator he received the Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of California and the Vincent Bendix Awarcl and the Lamme Awarc! from the American Society for Engineering Education. Other awards include election as fellow of King's College, London University; the T. K. Hsich Award of the British Royal Society and Institution of Civil Engineers, Great Britain; the Distinguished Engineering Achievement Award of the Institute for the Advancement of Engineering; and the first Kevin Nash GoIcI Medal of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering. He was selected as Faculty Research Lecturer at the University of California in 1986, the highest honor that the faculty can bestow on one of its own. Other distinguished lectureships awarded to Professor Seed include the Horace A. McCrary Lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the Karl

250 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES Terzaghi Lecture of the American Society of Civil Engineers; the Henry M. Shaw Lecture at North Carolina State University; Terzaghi Memorial Lecturer at Bogazici University, Turkey; the Rankine Lecture of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Great Britain; Northern Testing Services Distinguished Lecturer; Mar- tin S. Kapp Memorial Lecturer of the ASCE; lames H. Haley Memorial Lecturer, Boston Society of Civil Engineers; Distin- guished Civil Engineering Lecturer, University ofNevacla; Charles Schwab Memorial Lecturer, American Iron and Steel Institute; ant! the Nabor Carrillo Lecturer, Mexican Society for Soil Me- chanics. Dr. Seed was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engi- neering in 1970, to honorary membership in the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1985, to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in l9S6, and to honorary membership in the Earth- quake Engineering Research Institute in 1988. In 1987 he was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Reagan, and in 1988 he was awarded the first honorary doctorate present- ed by the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees in Paris. Dr. Harry Bolton Seed was truly a giant of his generation, and all of us are the richer for having had him among us. For those who knew him well, he will be most remembered as a generous and compassionate gentleman, with wit, incisive insights, and wide-ranging interest in the world around him. No problem was too small to be analyzed and solved; every person was given his time and consideration. He was truly a teacher in the highest sense of the word.

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