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Ralph B. Peck; Educator and Engineer—The Essence of the Man by John Dunnicliff and Nancy Peck Young

¹ 10256 Stoltz Drive, Rolla, MO 65401

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

It is appropriate to applaud yet another gift from Professor Ralph B. Peck to the profession, rather than to dwell on the man and his prominence in engineering. There are two general associations by which Dr. Peck has influenced our profession: (1) more narrowly, through his own engineer-student alumni of the University of Illinois; and, (2) more broadly among practicing engineers and geologists who have come to know, value, and follow the Peck teachings.

This review flows from the latter camp, a place where Dr. Peck is widely recognized for his ultimately practical engineering wisdom. He cannot help but be a genuine hero to geological practitioners who have learned from his writings and from occasional attendance at his lectures and oral papers. We geologists see him mainly in the light of his remarkable ability to detect and grasp the practical essentials and then, with the true calling of a great engineer, to pass his own proven lessons-learned on to us. Regrettably, however, this tribute is devoid of commentary by the many geologists who have crossed Ralph Peck's path over the years.

In his own humble words, Peck recalls his chance meeting on a geological field trip (early 1930s) of Winifred Goldring, a geological curator at the New York State Geological Museum in Albany. Previous to this point, Peck, the developing structural (bridge) engineer, had only a ripening curiosity about geology. He recalls (p. 28) "I think I have to credit her with the interest that I later found in the field of geology in general, without which I certainly could not have progressed very far in soil mechanics."

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