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Memorial Tributes: Volume 8 (1996)

Chapter: Robert F. Legget

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Suggested Citation:"Robert F. Legget." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
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Page 134
Suggested Citation:"Robert F. Legget." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
×
Page 135
Suggested Citation:"Robert F. Legget." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
×
Page 136
Suggested Citation:"Robert F. Legget." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
×
Page 137

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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

136 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."

ROBERT F. LEGGET 137 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.

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This series presents biographies of deceased members of the National Academy of Engineering.

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