The International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) is an international professional association, presently based in London, representing engineers, academics and contractors involved in

geotechnical engineering Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. It uses the principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics for the solution of its respective engineering problems. It als ...

. It is a federation of 90 member societies representing 91 countries around the world, which together give it a total of some 21,000 individual members. There are also 43 corporate associates from industry. The current ISSMGE President is Dr Marc Ballouz.

History

The ISSMGE originated in the International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, held in June 1936 at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

as one of many events held to mark the university's 300th anniversary.

Arthur Casagrande Arthur Casagrande (August 28, 1902 – September 6, 1981) was an American civil engineer born in Austria-Hungary who made important contributions to the fields of engineering geology and geotechnical engineering during its infancy. Renowned for h ...

of the Harvard faculty gained university support for an international conference on

soil mechanics Soil mechanics is a branch of soil physics and applied mechanics that describes the behavior of soils. It differs from fluid mechanics and solid mechanics in the sense that soils consist of a heterogeneous mixture of fluids (usually air and wat ...

and successfully persuaded

Karl Terzaghi Karl von Terzaghi (October 2, 1883 – October 25, 1963) was an Austrians, Austrian Mechanical Engineer, mechanical engineer, geotechnical engineer, and geologist known as the "father of soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering". Early life I ...

, who was then working in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, to preside. The conference attracted 206 delegates from 20 countries. The success of the five-day conference led participants to decide to establish a quadrennial International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (ICSMFE) as a permanent institution. An executive committee was set up, with Terzaghi as the first president, Casagrande as its first secretary, and Philip Rutledge, also of Harvard, as treasurer. Due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the second ICSMFE was not held until June 1948. The 1948 conference, held in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, had 596 delegates. After the third ICSMFE was held five years later in Zurich in 1953, the organization settled into a pattern of meeting every four years. In the meantime, a first regional conference was held in Australasia in 1952. Terzaghi was first president of the ICSMFE, serving until 1957 when he was succeeded by

Alec Skempton Sir Alec Westley Skempton (4 June 1914 – 9 August 2001) was an English civil engineer internationally recognised, along with Karl Terzaghi, as one of the founding fathers of the engineering discipline of soil mechanics. He established the soi ...

. Casagrande succeeded Skempton, holding the presidency from 1961 to 1965. A steering committee was established in 1981, and it became the Board in 1985. This meets annually; the Council meets every two years. The current name, the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, was adopted in 1997. ISSMGE membership has increased through its history. There were 32 member societies and 2500 individual members by 1957, 50 societies and 11,500 individuals in 1977, and 71 societies and 16,500 individuals in 1998. As of 2012, ISSMGE's reported membership totaled 19,000 individuals in 90 countries. ISSMGE is a member of the Federation of International Geo-Engineering Societies (FedIGS).

ISSMGE Secretaries-General

* John K.T.L. Nash (1965–1981) *

John Burland John Boscawen Burland (born 4 March 1936) is an Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Investigator at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Imperial College London. In 2016, Burland was elected as a member into the Natio ...

(1981) * Richard H.G. Parry (1981–1999) * Prof R.N. Taylor (1999 - Present)

Activities

The ISSMGE organises conferences on subjects including deep foundations, earthquake engineering and underground construction. Its main events continue to be the quadrennial International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ICSMGE), plus five quadrennial regional conferences, Young Geotechnical Engineers' Conferences, and specialist international conferences, symposia and workshops. In addition to a bimonthly bulletin and various technical committee reports, the society publishes an official

scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. Content Articles in scientific journals are mostly written by active scientists such as s ...

in collaboration with Geoengineer.org, the ''International Journal of Geoengineering Case Histories''. This is a

peer-review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

ed online journal that presents reports of observations and data collected in the practice of geotechnical engineering, earthquake engineering, environmental geotechnics, and engineering geology.

References

External links

ISSMGE website

Federation of International Geo-Engineering Societies
{{Authority control City, University of London Geotechnical organizations International organisations based in London International professional associations Organisations based in the London Borough of Islington

Soil Mechanics Soil mechanics is a branch of soil physics and applied mechanics that describes the behavior of soils. It differs from fluid mechanics and solid mechanics in the sense that soils consist of a heterogeneous mixture of fluids (usually air and wat ...

Scientific organizations established in 1936 Soil mechanics