Alec Skempton facts for kids

Sir Alec Westley Skempton (born June 4, 1914 – died August 9, 2001) was a famous English civil engineer. He is known as one of the main founders of soil mechanics. Soil mechanics is the study of how soil behaves. This is super important for building things safely.

Sir Alec helped start the soil mechanics course at Imperial College London. A building there was even named after him in 2004. He was also honored with a knighthood in 2000. This was for his great work in engineering. He also wrote a lot about the history of British civil engineering.

Sir Alec's Journey in Engineering

Skempton was born in Northampton, England. He went to Northampton grammar school. In 1932, he began studying civil engineering. He attended the City and Guilds College in London.

He started working on his PhD. But then he joined the Building Research Station (BRS) in 1936. At first, he worked on concrete. Then, in 1937, he moved to soil mechanics.

Solving Real-World Problems

Sir Alec's skills were very helpful. For example, an earth wall for a reservoir in Chingford failed. His ideas about clay layers helped explain why. He also worked on other big projects. These included Waterloo Bridge and the Muirhead dam in Scotland. He also helped with the Gosport Dockyard.

In 1945, Skempton left BRS for a short time. He went to Imperial College to create a soil mechanics course. He became a full-time teacher there in 1946. In 1950, he started the first advanced course in soil mechanics. He became a professor in 1955. From 1957 to 1976, he led the civil engineering department.

He helped a lot with understanding quaternary geology. This is the study of the most recent geological period. People often asked him for advice. He helped with problems like landslides and building foundations. He also worked on big dams. These included the Mangla Dam in Pakistan. He also helped after the Carsington Dam failed in 1984.

Important Discoveries and Research

Skempton worked on many important projects. He studied why the Chingford reservoir failed in 1937. He also worked on other dams. For the Chew Valley Lake dam, he designed sand-drains. These helped make the soil stronger. This was the first time such a method was used in the UK.

Sir Alec was very interested in how natural clays behave. He wrote important papers about how clays get stronger over time. He also came up with ideas like the A and B pore water pressure coefficients. These are still used widely today. Many of his writings are kept at Imperial College.

He was a founding member of an important committee. This was the Soil Mechanics and Foundations committee. It is now called the British Geotechnical Association.

Sharing Engineering History

Skempton also loved the history of civil engineering. He led a group that looked at old engineering records. He helped publish books about famous engineers. These included William Jessop and John Smeaton. John Smeaton is often called the founder of civil engineering. Sir Alec also started a big dictionary of British civil engineers. It was published in 2002.

Awards and Honors

In the UK

Sir Alec was a member of the Links Club at Imperial College. In 1964, he gave the 4th Rankine Lecture. This was a very important speech about clay slopes. In 2004, the Civil & Environmental Engineering building at Imperial College was named the Skempton Building. This honored his work in soil mechanics.

He also received many other awards. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1961. He was also a founding Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He won medals from the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Geological Society. He also received a gold medal from the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE). He was knighted in 2000 for his services to engineering.

Around the World

Skempton was chosen as the second President of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. This happened in 1957. He followed Karl Terzaghi, who was also a very important figure. Sir Alec also won the Terzaghi award. This award came from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

See also

• Imperial College Civil & Environmental Engineering