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.
