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ROBERT F. LEGGET
1 904-1 994
BY ALAN G. DAVENPORT
ROBERT FERGUSON LEGGET, a Canadian engineer of interna-
tional distinction, died in Ottawa on Sunday, April 17, 1994,
at the age eighty-nine. His achievements were many. He was
the driving force behind the establishment of the Canadian
National Building Code, a mode! code now used throughout
Canada; the founding director of the National Research Coun-
ciT of Canada's Division of Building Research (now the
Institute for Research in Construction); the author of a dozen
books; the founding president (1987) of the Canadian Acade-
my of Engineering; and the recipient of many honors,
including election as a foreign associate of the United States
National Academy of Engineering in 1988.
Born in Liverpool, England, on September 29,1904, of Scot-
tish parents, Robert Legget graduated with both bachelor's
and master's degrees (in 1927) from the University of Liver-
pool. After working in construction in Scotland, he came to
Canada in April 1929. On his arrival, he worked in the design
and construction of major power projects and geotechnical
. .
engineering.
Between 1936 and 1947 he taught civil engineering, mainly
soil mechanics and foundation engineering, first at Queen's
University at Kingston, Ontario, for three years and then at
the University of Toronto. His students remember him as a
superb teacher, always animated and well prepared with illus
135
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
"rations from practice. At the same time he continued to be
involved with major engineering construction and wartime
. . .
engineering works.
In 1947 he was invited to establish the Division of Building
Research of the National Research Council of Canada. He laid
clown a complete spectrum of research on building problems
in Canada, with particular emphasis on those arising from
building in a cold climate. Through his leadership and the
outstanding research staff, this organization became respect-
ed far outside Canadian borders. At the same time he initiated
the work on the Canadian National Building Code.
Robert Legget had a pivotal role in boosting geotechnical en-
gineering in Canada and internationally. He establisher! the
Canadian National Research Council's Associate Committee on
Soil and Snow Mechanics (later the Associate Committee on Geo-
technical Engineering), held the first Canadian soil mechanics
conference in 1947, and hosted the Sixth International Confer-
ence on Soil Mechanics en c! Foundation Engineering in
Montreal in 1965. He established the Canadian Geotechnical
Society together with the Canadian Geotechnical Journal.
He recognized the importance of close engineering ties
internationally and in particular with the United States. In
1965 he became president of the Geological Society of
America, and at the same time was president of the
American Society for Testing and Materials the first
Canadian to hold these positions. From 1966 to 1969 he
was also president of the International Council for Building
Research, Studies, and Documentation.
He wrote extensively, his first book being a classic text on
geology and engineering. His book on the Ricleau Waterway
describes the construction of the canal built between the Ot-
tawa River and Kingston on Lake Ontario cluring hostilities
between Canada and the United States in the early IS00s. De-
scribing vividly an early engineering achievement in Canada,
it has become popular with engineers and the public. His book
helped to attract many visitors from the United States and
elsewhere to this "silver chain of rivers and lakes linked by
small locks and Tinkling channels."
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ROBERT F. LEGGET
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Robert Legget received honorary degrees from thirteen
universities and a long list of honors and awards from
around the world.
Robert Legget was widowed in 1984 and is survive cl by his
son, David, who lives in Toronto.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
canadian national
