Harry Bolton Seed (August 19, 1922 – April 23, 1989) was an educator, scholar, former professor at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

. He was regarded as the founding father of geotechnical earthquake engineering.

Biography

Early life

Harry Bolton Seed was born in

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

, England, on August 19, 1922, into a family of a cotton mill manager. His father was Arthur Bolton Seed, and his mother's maiden name was Annie Wood; his sister Dorothy was nine years older than he was. He spent his childhood in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

and attended Farnworth Grammar School, where he exhibited talent both at sports and academics. At the age of eighteen he chose a scholarship to

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

over a possible professional soccer career. Seed's studies were interrupted by the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

, when he served the military as a lieutenant. After military service, Seed returned to the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

to finish his study, and received a BSc in Civil Engineering in 1944 and a PhD in Structural Engineering in 1947. His thesis title was "''Non-elastic deformations in concrete and their effects on design''". Seed also captained the University of London's soccer team, and the All-England team during this period. Following two years as assistant lecturer at King's College, Seed came to

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 highe ...

to study soil mechanics under the tutelage of engineering giants

Karl Terzaghi Karl von Terzaghi (October 2, 1883 – October 25, 1963) was an Austrian mechanical engineer, geotechnical engineer, and geologist known as the "father of soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering". Early life In 1883, he was born the first c ...

and

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 ...

. He received his S.M. degree from Harvard in 1948 and spent the next year as an instructor at Harvard, followed by a year as a foundation engineer for Thomas Worcester, Inc., in Boston.

Career at the University of California, Berkeley

In 1950 Seed joined the civil engineering faculty at the

, where he finished his career as an educator, researcher and consultant to public agencies and private businesses. He built up the geotechnical engineering program at Berkeley into one of the best in the world. He served as chair of the Civil Engineering Department from 1965 to 1971. He successfully guided fifty PhD degree candidates to complete their dissertations during his career. He died of cancer at his home in Orinda, California on August 23, 1989.

Father of geotechnical earthquake engineering

Professor Seed's published nearly 300 papers and reports on various topics on

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 ...

. His early research on pile-soil interaction, soil compaction and pavement formed the scientific basis for modern design. In the 1960s he established a new research area, geotechnical earthquake engineering, and he is commonly regarded as the founding father of this area. His pioneering works included the development of equivalent linear method (SHAKE) for seismic site response analysis, soil structure interaction analysis, evaluation and mitigation of

soil liquefaction Soil liquefaction occurs when a cohesionless saturated or partially saturated soil substantially loses Shear strength (soil), strength and stiffness in response to an applied Shear stress, stress such as shaking during an earthquake or other ...

, etc. He investigated many major disasters, such as the 1964 Great Alaska earthquake, the

1971 San Fernando earthquake The 1971 San Fernando earthquake (also known as the 1971 Sylmar earthquake) occurred in the early morning of February 9 in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in southern California. The unanticipated thrust earthquake had a magnitude of ...

in California, the 1976 failure of the

Teton dam The Teton Dam was an earthen dam in the western United States, on the Teton River in eastern Idaho. It was built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, one of eight federal agencies authorized to construct dams.Perrow, Charles. '' Normal Accid ...

, the 1979 slide at the port of

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative ...

in France, and the 1985

Mexico City earthquake The 1985 Mexico City earthquake struck in the early morning of 19 September at 07:17:50 (CST) with a moment magnitude of 8.0 and a maximal Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). The event caused serious damage to the Greater Mexico City area a ...

. He served as a consultant on hundreds of projects all over the world, including more than 100 major dams, more than 20 nuclear power plants, and innumerable major buildings and transportation facilities. His research, founded on sound scientific principles, have led to a total revision of concepts and methods for geotechnical earthquake design, as well as revision of codes of practice, design procedures, and regulations throughout the world.

Honors and awards

Seed received numerous awards and honors during his career. He was elected to 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 of ...

in 1970 and

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...

in 1986. He received the

National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...

, the nation's highest scientific honor, from President Reagan in 1987. 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, p ...

accorded him more awards than any other engineer in the history of the society, including two Norman Medals, three James J. R. Croes Medals, four Thomas A. Middlebrooks Awards, and Thomas Fitch Rowland Prize, Wellington Prize, Walter A. Huber Research Prize, the

Award. He was elected honorary member in the

in 1985, honorary member in the

Earthquake Engineering Research Institute The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) is a leading technical society in dissemination of earthquake risk and earthquake engineering research both in the U.S. and globally. EERI members include researchers, geologists, geotechnical ...

in 1988. He was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award and Faculty Research Lecturer from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, University of Califor ...

. He was the Karl von Terzaghi Lecturer in 1967 and gave the

Rankine Lecture The Rankine lecture is an annual lecture organised by the British Geotechnical Association named after William John Macquorn Rankine, an early contributor to the theory of soil mechanics. This should not be confused with the biennial BGA Géotec ...

in 1979. In 1993,

established H. Bolton Seed Medal in his honor.

References

External links

*
James K. Mitchell, "Harry Bolton Seed", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (1995)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seed, Harry Bolton 1922 births 1989 deaths People educated at Farnworth Grammar School Alumni of King's College London Geotechnical engineers University of California, Berkeley faculty National Medal of Science laureates Rankine Lecturers Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences alumni People from Orinda, California People from Bolton Scientists from Lancashire