Geotechnical News • June 2012
15
GEO-INSTITUTE NEWS
underground structures for his Sc.D.
research.
Whitman served in the Navy as an
officer in the Civil Engineer Corps sta-
tioned at Pearl Harbor, HI. Afterwards,
he served on the Air Force’s advisory
panel for the earliest hardened missile
complexes and in the 1960s, worked
on developing stable foundations for
long-range tracking radar – research
that led him to become a leading
expert in the new discipline of soil
dynamics.
He transitioned into earthquake
engineering through a joint study with
Professor Harry Seed of the University
of California at Berkeley and co-
authored the acclaimed textbook “Soil
Mechanics” with MIT Professor Bill
Lambe. “Of all the things I’ve done,
I’m probably proudest of that book,”
said Whitman.
During the 1970s, he helped develop
the Massachusetts State Seismic Code
and worked on framing the National
Earthquake Hazards Reduction Pro-
gram. He later was later drawn into
centrifuge research where he helped
introduce centrifuge testing to the U.S.
geotechnical community.
Whitman served on many scientific
and government advisory boards and
helped form the Federal Emergency
Management Agency’s five-year
Earthquake Hazard Mitigation Plan
and chaired the National Research
Council’s committee that produced
the influential report “Liquefaction of
Soils During Earthquakes” (1985). He
also made significant contributions
to the Applied Technology Council’s
report Tentative Provisions for the
Development of Seismic Regulations
for Buildings, which provided the first
national earthquake hazard maps.
The EERI inducted him in 1972,
where he later served as the society’s
first president from outside California
and received their George W. Housner
Medal for sustained leadership and
contributions to earthquake engineer-
ing. He was elected to the National
Academy of Engineering in 1975 and
was awarded the ASCE’s prestigious
Terzaghi Award for outstanding con-
tributions to knowledge in the fields of
soil mechanics, subsurface and earth-
work engineering. Read his complete
obituary at
ISSMGE News
ISSMGE TC-101 International
Workshop
“Advances in Multiphysical
Testing of Soils and Shales”
September 3-5, 2012
EPFL conference facilities
Lausanne, Switzerland
The workshop will focus on the
significant advances of knowledge
regarding the experimental analysis
of soils and shales that have been
achieved during the last decade. Some
fundamental issues have been solved,
and important achievements have been
made in certain areas, including the
development of multiphase testing
facilities for non-isothermal conditions
and the characterization of the micro-
structural arrangement for complex
geomaterials.
The workshop should stimulate
debate on the advances in experi-
mental geomechanics, contributions
on unsaturated soil testing, non-
isothermal experiments and chemo-
osmotic experimental evidences. A
half-day course will also be organized
on advanced multiphysical testing for
geomaterials. A low registration fee
has been set for students to encourage
young delegates to attend.
Additional information may be found
on the workshop Web site at
http://
amtss.epfl.ch/
Join ISSMGE
ASCE members can join ISSMGE
by enrolling on your annual ASCE
