OLIVIER

UNITED KINGDOM (see also List of Individuals)

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25.1.1914 Sutherland/SA - 6.10.1994 Jeffreys Bay/SA

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Henry Olivier was born in South Africa and passed his youth in Rhodesia. He graduated as a civil engineer from the University of Cape Town in 1936 and then joined the Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners, London. A resident engineer in Kent until 1942, he was from 1944 a designer of hydropower schemes in Scotland. After the war, Olivier represented his firm on Iranian water resources development projects. In 1950, he moved to Africa to supervise the construction of the Owen Falls Dam, Uganda, at the Nile outflow from Lake Victoria for the benefit of Uganda, Sudan and Egypt. At the opening of the scheme, the Queen of England invested him Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George. From these days dates his book on the Developments of hydro-potential. In 1968, Olivier also received from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg the first Doctorate in Engineering for the development of multi-purpose schemes in Southern Africa.

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From the 1960s Oliver was seconded to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development as project director of the Indus Basin project. It entailed engineering works associated with the water sharing of the Indus River between India and Pakistan. He was therefore intimately associated with the huge Mangla and Tarbela Dams in Pakistan, among the largest works in the 1970s. Later, Olivier played an important role in the Cahora Bassa Dam in Mozambique on the Zambezi River. Once having founded his engineering firm, Olivier was consulted for South Africa's Orange River Project; he therefore had an important role in the design of the Hendrik Verwoerd and the P.K. le Roux Dams. The latter is currently with 107 m the highest dam in Southern Africa and was completed in the 1980s. Besides, Olivier was also involved in the South African Institution of Civil Engineers, was its president in 1979 and later its Honorary Member.

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_{Anonymous (1954). Olivier, Henry. Who's who in engineering: lxxiii. Lewis: New York. Anonymous (1968). Dr. Henry Olivier. The Engineer 225: 217. P}

_{Anonymous (1994). Tribute to Dr. Henry Olivier. Siviele Ingenieurwese 2(12): 6. P}

_{Olivier, H. (1962). Irrigation and climate: New aids to engineering planning and development of water resources. Arnold: London.}

_{Oliver, H. (1967). Through and overflow of rockfill dams - New design techniques. Proc. Institution Civil Engineers 36: 433-471; 37: 855-888; 39: 169-172.}

_{Olivier, H. (1972). Irrigation and water resources engineering. Arnold: London. Olivier, H. (1977). Great dams in Southern Africa. Purnell&Sons: Cape Town. Schwartz, I. (2008). Henry Olivier. Personal Communication.}