Engineering Geology - History

History

Although the science of geology has been around since the 18th century, at least in its modern form, the science and practice of engineering geology didn't begin as a recognized discipline until the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first book entitled Engineering Geology was published in 1880 by William Penning. In the early 20th century Charles Berkey, an American trained geologist who was considered the first American engineering geologist, worked on a number of water supply projects for New York City, then later worked on the Hoover dam and a multitude of other engineering projects. The first American engineering geology text book was written in 1914 by Ries and Watson. In 1925, Karl Terzaghi, an Austrian trained engineer and geologist, published the first text in Soil Mechanics (in German). Terzaghi is known as the father of soil mechanics, but also had great interest in geology; Terzaghi considered soil mechanics to be a sub-discipline of engineering geology. In 1929, Terzaghi, along with Redlich and Kampe, published their own Engineering Geology text (also in German).

The need for geologist on engineering works gained world wide attention in 1928 with the failure of the St. Francis dam in California and the loss of 426 lives. More engineering failures which occurred the following years also prompted the requirement for engineering geologists to work on large engineering projects.

In 1951, one of the earliest definitions of the "Engineering geologist" or "Professional Engineering Geologist" was provided by the Executive Committee of the Division on Engineering Geology of the Geological Society of America.