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NATHAN MORTIMORE NEWMARK
1910-1981
BY WILLIAM ~
. HALL
NATHAN M NEWMARK internationally known educator and engi-
neer, died January 25, 1981, in Urbana, Illinois. Dr. Newmark was
widely known for his research in structural engineering and struc-
tural dynamics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
and for his contributions to the design of earthquake-resistant struc-
tures, including the Latino Americana Tower in Mexico City, and
most recently for his work on the design of the trans-Alaska pipeline.
Nathan M. Newmark was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, on
September 22, 1910, to Abraham S. and Mollie (Nathanson) New-
mark. After receiving his early education in North Carolina and
New Jersey, he attended Rutgers University. There he accumulated
a number of prizes as an undergraduate and graduated with High
Honors and Special Honors in Civil Engineering in 1930, thereby
giving evidence of his unusual skills and talents at a young age. He
then enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Illinois in
Urbana where he worked under the late Professors Hardy Cross,
Harold M. Westergaard, and Frank E. Richart, and received his
M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1932 and 1934, respectively.
Beginning in 1930 as a graduate research assistant, Nate New-
mark held a succession of positions for over half a century at the
University of Illinois. He was appointed Research Professor of Civil
Engineering in 1943, skipping the intermediate rank of Associate
Professor. Early in his career he contributed significantly to the fields
of structural analysis and structural materials and received national
217
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218
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
and international recognition for his work pertaining to highway
bridges. His contributions in the area of structural dynamics, includ-
ing consideration of impact, wave action, wind, blast, and earth-
quakes, influenced greatly structural and mechanical design
throughout the world. In 1956 he was appointed Head of the
Department of Civil Engineering, a position he held until 1973; he
retired from his university position in 1976. Although the reputation
of the department had been great almost since its founding, under
Professor Newmark's leadership its stature rose to new heights.
From 1947 to 1957 he was Chairman of the Digital Computer
Laboratory at the university; during this period he had a major hand
in development of one of the first modern large-scale digital com-
puters (ILLIAC II). This activity led to the university's eminent
status in developing computer science in engineering. He served in
many important leadership capacities in the university; he has the
distinction of having held the longest appointment to date on the
University Research Board, the organization that was in large part
responsible for placing the university among the great research insti-
tutions of the world. Nate Newmark's vision and foresight played no
small role in the success of this effort.
During World War II Dr. Newmark was a consultant to the
National Defense Research Committee and to the Office of Scien-
tific Research and Development. Part of his national service time
was spent in the Pacific war zone. He was awarded the President's
Certificate of Merit in 1948. In addition to serving on numerous
Department of Defense boards and panels, he made major contribu-
tions to the development of the Minute Man missile system as well
as the MX missile system currently under development.
Dr. Newmark played a major role in many of the most important
technical activities of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He
was one of the founding members of the Engineering Mechanics
Division and was also a prime mover in the development of the
computer application activities of the society. He has been granted
almost every major award that can be bestowed by the American
Society of Civil Engineers and the founder society groups. He was
an honorary member of most of the many societies to which he
belonged.
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NATHAN MORTIMER NEWMARK
219
As a practicing engineer he was instrumental in developing the
design criteria for many of the largest and most complex projects of
the world. These include the earthquake design of the forty-three-
story Latino Americana Tower in Mexico City, for which he was the
earthquake consultant in the late 1940s and early 1950s. In 1957 the
building was subjected to a strong earthquake and withstood it with-
out darnage. A plaque is mounted on that building attesting to his
design accomplishment. He also was responsible for developing the
seismic design criteria for many other large projects such as the Bay
Area Rapid Transit System and the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline Sys-
tem, which is now the largest privately financed project in the
history of the world. He held similar responsibility for the Alaska-
Canada gas pipeline at the time of his death. He carried major
responsibility over the seventeen years before his death for develop-
ment of the earthquake design and review criteria for about seventy
nuclear power plants as well as for proposed liquid natural gas
facilities on the West Coast.
Dr. Newmark was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences in 1962, Founding Member of the National Acad-
emy of Engineering (NAE) in 1964, and member of the National
Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 1966. Among his many NAE/NAS/
NRC (National Research Council) activities were the following:
NAE Council, 1964-1968; NAS/NAE Engineering Joint Board,
1966-1968; NAE Committee on Earthquake Engineering Research,
1965-1970; NAS/NAE Committee on Scientific and Technical
Communication, 1966- 1969; and NAE/NRC Committee on Natu-
ral Disasters, 1971-1977 (Member and Chairman).
In 1968 Dr. Newrnark received the National Medal of Science
from President Lyndon B. Johnson, and in 1969 he received the
Washington Award a joint award given annually by the major
engineering societies of the United States. In 1979 Dr. Newmark
was presented the John Fritz Medal, an all-engineering society
award, and in 1980 he was awarded the sixteenth Gold Medal in the
fifty-seven-year history of the Institution of Structural Engineers of
Great Britain, the second American engineer to be so honored. Dr.
Newmark received honorary degrees from his alma mater, Rutgers
University, in 1955, from the University of Liege in 1957, from the
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220
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
University of Notre Dame in 1969, and from the University of
Illinois in 1978.
Dr. Newmark's publications include more than 200 papers,
books, and chapters in books. He is the coauthor of the following
books on earthquake engineering: Design of Multi-Story Reinforced Corz-
crete Buildings for Earthquake Motion, with John A. Blume and Leo
Corning (published by the Portland Cement Association, Chicago,
1961), and Fur~damer~tals of Earthquake Engineering, with Emilio
Rosenblueth (published by Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs,
New Jersey, 1971~.
Nate Newmark carried his own university with him wherever he
went, even into professional practice. Engineers, young and old,
who came into contact with this man sensed the intellectual and
educational challenge. His penetrating insight, his keen engineering
judgment, and his genuine interest in people have been a constant
source of inspiration to all who have had the privilege of working
with him.
Dr. Newmark possessed an unusual ability to attract young people
to the field of civil engineering, to inspire them with the confidence
for undertaking new and varied tasks, and to guide but not direct
their thinking. He insisted that as individuals they receive appropri-
ate recognition for their accomplishments. His unceasing devotion
to research, his noteworthy and continuing contributions to the bet-
terment of structural design practice, and his leadership in engineer-
ing education, teaching, and professional activities have had a
profound influence on civil engineering. It is no accident that there
grew up around him one of the most active research centers in civil
engineering in the country or that the alumni of this group have
assumed broad leadership in education, industry, and government
throughout the world.
On February l9, 1981, the Board of Trustees of the University of
Illinois renamed the Civil Engineering Building as the Nathan M.
Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory in commemoration of Dr.
Newmark's contributions to the university.
He is survived by his wife, Anne, and three children, Richard,
Linda (Mrs. James Bylander), and Susan (Mrs. Paul Mayfield).
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
tributes university
