WESTERGAARD

DENMARK (see also List of Individuals)

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9.10.1888 København/DK - 22.6.1950 Cambridge MA/USA

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Harold Malcolm Westergaard graduated as a civil engineer from the Danish Polytechnic in 1911 and for a short period worked in hydraulic problems of harbors. In 1912 he stayed at Göttingen University to improve knowledge in mathematics, and in 1913 he moved to London UK where he joined a firm working in reinforced concrete. Westergaard emigrated in 1914 to the USA and submitted in 1916 a PhD thesis to the University of Illinois, Urbana IL and there remained first as a Lecturer in theoretical and applied mechanics. Being promoted to associate professor in 1924. Westergaard submitted a doctoral thesis to the Technical University of Munich in 1925 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Copenhagen Polytechnic in 1929. From 1929, he was a consultant for the Boulder Dam project in service with the Bureau of Reclamation while staying as professor at the University of Illinois until 1936. He was then appointed Don McKay professor of civil engineering at Harvard University, Cambridge MA, and acted as the dean of its Graduate School of Engineering.

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Westergaard's main works were in the theory of elasticity. He there was awarded the Wason Medal from the American Concrete Institute in 1922. In hydraulic engineering, he mainly contributed to the design of concrete dams, such as the Boulder (Hoover) Dam in the Western USA. He published a notable paper in the Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers ASCE, of which he was awarded the Croes Medal in 1935. Westergaard was appointed in 1937 Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science. He also served the American Navy with distinguished works. Westergaard was awarded the 1949 Thomas Fitch Rowland Prize.

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_{Anonymous (1935). James R. Croes Medal. Civil Engineering 5(1): 43-45. P}

_{Anonymous (1950). H.M. Westergaard. Civil Engineering 20(1): 41-42. P}

_{Cattell, J. (1955). Westergaard, Harold Malcolm. American men of science: 2672. Science Press: Lancaster PA.}

_{Cedergreen, B. (1984). Westergaard, Harold Malcolm. Dansk biografisk leksikon 15: 438.}

_{Gyldendal: Copenhagen.}

_{Poulsen, A., Lundgren, H. (1950). H.M. Westergaard. Ingeniø´ren 59.}

_{Westergaard, H.M. (1933). Water pressures on dams during earthquakes. Trans. ASCE 98: 418-472. Westergaard, H.M. (1952). Theory of elasticity and plasticity. Harvard University: Cambridge.}