Thomas William Lambe (November 28, 1920 in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

– March 6, 2017 in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sout ...

) was an American geotechnical engineer and an emeritus professor at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. Lambe studied

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

at North Carolina State, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1942. He studied at MIT starting in 1943, working with Donald Wood Taylor in 1948. He assisted Karl von Terzaghi and Taylor in their work as consultants. He was Professor of Civil Engineering until his retirement in 1981, when he was the head of the Geotechnical Engineering Department and the director of the Soil Stabilization Laboratory. He also worked as a consulting engineer. Lambe was also involved in the Apollo Program for which he designed the soil experiments. He is an Honorary Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the Institution of Civil Engineers. He received the Norman Medal of the ASCE in 1964, the Terzaghi Award in 1975. He was the Terzaghi Lecturer in 1970, and the Rankine Lecturer in 1973. In 1997 he gave the Spencer J. Buchanan Lecture at the

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

References

*Lambe, Robert V. Whitman ''Soil Mechanics'', MIT Press 1969, as well as later reprints *Lambe ''Soil Testing for Engineers'', Wiley 1951 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lambe, T. William 1920 births 2017 deaths American engineers MIT School of Engineering alumni People from Raleigh, North Carolina North Carolina State University alumni MIT School of Engineering faculty