Tschebotarioff Club Professorial Profile
Gerald A. Leonards
Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering
Professor Leonards was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He obtained his BSCE
at McGill University in Montreal in 1943 and both his MSCE and PhD from
Purdue in 1948 and 1952 respectively. His PhD thesis was entitled, "Strength
Characteristics of Compacted Clays."
Dr. Leonards began teaching at McGill in 1944 and at Purdue in 1946. Although
he retired from teaching in 1991, he still contributes significantly to the
research program. His Advanced Foundation Engineering (CE 683) and Applied
Soil Mechanics (CE 684) courses are valued by former Purdue graduate
students.
Professor Leonards research interests are very wide and include Stress-Strain
relationships, Strength and Compressibility of Soils, Performance of Buried
Conduits, Pile Foundations, Stability of Slopes and Embankments in and on
Soft Clays, Settlement of Structures, Design of Embankment Dams, Sand
Liquefaction and Methodologies for Investigating Failures.
Dr. Leonards has been retained on consulting jobs all over the world. He was
appointed as the only non-European to sit on an official government
commission in Italy to investigate ways to stabilize the Tower of Pisa. Dr.
Leonards is an active participant in ASCE (Life Fellow) and the
Transportation Research Board (TRB). In 1980 he was given the honor of
presenting the Terzaghi Lecture. In 1988 he was elected a member of the
National Academy of Engineering. In 1989, Dr. Leonards was honored by McGill
University in Montreal where he became a Doctor of Science, honoris causa. He
was also presented with the 1989 Terzaghi Award.
Professor Leonards' non-academic interests include archeology, golf and
tennis.
From the Students' Perspective: "GAL" is a dedicated professor and
researcher. His geotechnical philosophy is summarized in "understanding the
physics of the phenomenon." Students admire his engineering knowledge and
intuition, and the depth and clarity of his concepts.
Click here for more information about Professor Leonards
Last updated March 9, 1995
Please send comments to (geowww@ecn.purdue.edu)
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