Mansfield Merriman

Mansfield Merriman (born March 27, 1848 in Southington , † June 7, 1925 in New York City ) was an American civil engineer.

Merriman was the son of a farmer and studied civil engineering at Yale University , graduating in 1871. He then spent two years with the US Corps of Engineers. From 1875 to 1878 he was an instructor at Yale University and received his doctorate there in 1876 with a dissertation (the first in the USA) on statistics ( method of least squares ), which was also successful as a textbook. In 1877/78 he was a lecturer in astronomy at Yale. After he had published about bridge girders in 1876, he became professor of civil engineering at Lehigh University in 1878 , which he remained until 1907. After that he was a consulting engineer.

From 1880 to 1885 he was assistant to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.

He wrote books on civil engineering, strength engineering, surveying, hydraulics and statistics. In 1911 he published the first edition of the American Civil Engineer's Pocket Book , which became the standard work for civil engineers in the USA with great circulation.

Fonts

• On the theory and calculation of continous bridges, New York: Van Nostrand 1876
• Elements of the Method of least squares, London: Macmillan 1877, Archives (8th edition, Wiley 1910)
• A text-book on the mechanics of materials and of beams, columns, and shafts, New York: Wiley 1885
• A text-book on roofs and bridges. Part I. Stresses in simple trusses, New York: Wiley 1888
• A text-book on roofs and bridges. Part II. Graphic Statics, New York: Wiley 1890
• A text-book on retaining walls and masonry dams, New York: Wiley 1892
• A text-book on roofs and bridges. Part III. Bridge Design, New York: Wiley, 1894
• Strength of materials. A text-book for manual training schools, Wiley 1897
• A text-book on roofs and bridges. Part IV. Higher Structures, Wiley 1898
• Elements of Sanitary Engineering, 2nd edition, Wiley 1899, Archives
• The principle of least work in mechanics and its use in investigations regard-ing the ether of space, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 42, No. 173, 1903, pp. 162-165.
• Elements of mechanics. Forty lessons for beginners in engineering, New York: Wiley 1905
• A treatise on hydraulics, Wiley 1908, Archives
• Mechanics of Materials, 10th Edition, Wiley 1910, Archives
• American Civil Engineer's Pocket Book, Wiley 1911
• Elements of Hydraulics, Wiley 1912, Archives
• Handbook for Surveyors, 5th Edition, Wiley 1918, Archives

He also published a book on entertaining mathematics under the pen name EH Lick (Recreations in Mathematics, 1907)

literature

• Karl-Eugen Kurrer : The History of the Theory of Structures. Searching for Equilibrium , Ernst & Sohn 2018, p. 178 and p. 1032 (biography), ISBN 978-3-433-03229-9 .