Thomas Christian Kavanagh (August 17, 1912 – May 23, 1978) was a noted American

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

and educator, and a founding member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

, serving as its first treasurer from 1964–1974.

Biography

Kavanagh was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. His father, Patrick F. Kavanagh, was an Irish immigrant and laborer and electrical worker for a New York city streetcar company; his mother, Anna C. Unger, came from Germany. He attended the

Technical University of Berlin The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...

for one year, received him B.S. and Master of Civil Engineering degrees from the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

, and his

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

degree in finance and science doctorate from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. He then started work as a structural designer for engineering firms in New York and Pennsylvania on railway and highway bridges, sanitary plants, power plants, electrical transmission towers, waterfront structures, floating docks, and refineries, and during

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 ...

was an aircraft engineer. After the war, he became assistant professor of civil engineering at

(NYU) for several years, then full professor at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

and in 1948 head of its Structures Department. In 1952 he returned to NYU as chairman of its Department of Civil Engineering. In 1953 he began consulting for Praeger & Maguire, which was renamed Praeger-Kavanagh when he became partner, and later Praeger-Kavanagh-Waterbury. While consulting, he continued as adjunct professor at NYU until 1956, and at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

thereafter. In 1975 Kavanagh joined Louis Berger International as vice president, and in 1976 he founded another consulting firm, Iffland Kavanagh Waterbury, remaining a partner until his death. Kavanagh was responsible for several major engineering projects, including the

Arecibo radio telescope The Arecibo Telescope was a spherical reflector radio telescope built into a natural sinkhole at the Arecibo Observatory located near Arecibo, Puerto Rico. A cable-mount steerable receiver and several radar transmitters for emitting signals we ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

, the Hawkins Point Floating Bridge on the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

, plans for the subway system of Caracas, and the

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

bridge crossing. He was a member of twenty professional societies, and chaired twenty different professional working groups. Among his many honors he received the Ernest E. Howard Award from the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

; the David Steinman Medal for Structural Engineering from the

; the Gold Medal of the

Architectural League of New York The Architectural League of New York is a non-profit organization "for creative and intellectual work in architecture, urbanism, and related disciplines". The league dates from 1881, when Cass Gilbert organized meetings at the Salmagundi Club for ...

; and an Honorary Life Membership in the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wit ...

References

National Academy of Engineering memorial tribute

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kavanagh, Thomas Christian 20th-century American engineers Founding members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Pennsylvania State University faculty Columbia University faculty 1912 births 1978 deaths