Elected in 1999

“For contributions to the theory and practice of ocean wave statistics, probabilistic hydrodynamic loading, and risk analysis of ocean structures.”

BY JEFFREY A. MELBY

SUBMITTED BY THE NAE HOME SECRETARY

LEON E. BORGMAN, distinguished emeritus professor of geology and geophysics and statistics, University of Wyoming, and the father of modern ocean-wave statistical analysis, died on February 5, 2007, at the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Born in Chickasha, Oklahoma, on February 16, 1928, he received a B.S. in geological engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in 1953 and, from 1953 to 1959, worked for the Shell Development Company, Houston, Texas, as an oceanographic engineer. He received an M.S. in mathematics from the University of Houston in 1959 and a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1962.

Leon began his academic career in 1961 at the University of California, Davis, where he taught for six years, and the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught for three years. He came to the University of Wyoming in 1970 as professor of geology and statistics and retired in 1997 as distinguished emeritus professor of geology and geophysics and statistics. During that time, he mentored many students, both at the university and in the greater engineering community. After his retirement and until the time of his death, he was a private consultant.