A Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity

The Peck Library at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) was opened in May 2000 by Ralph B. Peck. When this was announced, we decided it would be appropriate to mark the occasion with a publication about him. A pleasant part of his effort was a visit to Ralph's home in Albuquerque to interview him and collect reference material. We spent a week diving into his comprehensive files, an undertaking which was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Lectures, publications, diaries, and photos were all easily accessed, including more than 1000 files of consulting projects with names that varied from Campbell Soup to Nuclear Craters.

When we ran into problems or had questions, Ralph was prepared to solve them and keep us on the right track. His never-failing memory and clearness in formulation reminded us of the happy days as his students at the University of Illinois. The result of our effort was the publication: Ralph B. Peck, Engineer, Educator, A Man Judgement (Pub. 207, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, 2000), which can be viewed/downloaded at www.ngi.no.

Elmo DiBiagio and Kaare Flaate, Ph.D.



This letter is an excerpt from the Geo-Strata Feature on Professor Peck, Geo-Strata September/October 2008.

Photo#117: With Elmo DiBiagio (left) and Kaare Flaate (right), March 2000. Photo from the Geo-Strata Magazine Sep/Oct 2008.