Leonardo Zeevaert
Leonardo Zeevaert Wiechers (quoted as: Leonardo Zeevaert ; born November 27, 1914 in Veracruz ; † February 16, 2010 in Mexico City ) was a Mexican civil engineer.
Zeevaert studied at the National University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México) in Mexico City with a degree in civil engineering in 1939. He then went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , where he received a master's degree in 1940 (structural engineering). In 1941 he became professor of civil engineering at the National University of Mexico and gave lectures not only on foundation engineering and soil mechanics, but also on building construction, earthquake-proof construction and other aspects of civil engineering. At the invitation of Karl von Terzaghi , he turned to soil mechanics and, from 1943 onwards, investigated the stability of old dam structures in Mexico. As a visiting scholar he went to the University of Illinois in 1947 and received his doctorate there in 1949. From 1986 he was Professor Emeritus at the National University. In addition to his university activities, he was a consulting engineer. He has given guest lectures at universities in Europe, South and Central America, the USA and China.
As a scientist, he dealt intensively with soil dynamics (where he developed a free-swinging torsion pendulum to investigate dynamic soil properties) and the earthquake safety of buildings. His measurements from the earthquake in Mexico City in May 1962 were incorporated into the local earthquake building regulations. In addition to the earthquake hazard in his homeland, he also dealt with geotechnical problems posed by the sometimes difficult building ground in Mexico City and developed new foundation methods for this. An important project was the foundation of the 43-story high-rise Latinoamericana Tower in Mexico City in 1947/48 (it was completed in 1956). There he also worked as a consultant for steel construction, which proved itself in the 1957 earthquake. In addition, he was also involved in hydraulic engineering projects on the coast, in drainage projects and in port construction on the Pacific.
In 1954 he was a founding member and first president (until 1968) of the Mexican Society for Soil Mechanics (Sociedad Mexicana de Mecánica de Suelos). From 1961 to 1965 he was Vice President for North America of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering. He was a member of the Royal Belgian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering . In 1987 he was a Terzaghi Lecturer . In 1996 he became an honorary member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
Fonts
- Foundation engineering for difficult subsoil conditions , Van Nostrand-Reinhold 1982
- Interacción Suelo-Estructura de Cimentaciones Superficiales y Profundas Sujetas a Cargas Estáticas y Sísmicas , LIMUSA, Mexico 1980
Web links
- Leonardo Zeevaert Wiechers, English biography with list of publications
- leonardozeevaert.com ( Memento of February 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Zeevaert, Leonardo |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Zeevaert Wiechers, Leonardo |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Mexican civil engineer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 27, 1914 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Veracruz |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 16, 2010 |
| Place of death | Mexico City |