Robert Legget

Dr. Robert Ferguson Legget (September 29, 1904 – April 17, 1994) C.C., D.Eng., F.R.S.C. was a civil engineer, historian and non-fiction writer. He was internationally known for his contributions to engineering, geology and building research and standardization. He is credited with the establishment of co-operation among Canadian geotechnical engineers, geologists and pedologists.

Legget was born in Liverpool, England of Scottish parents. He obtained a BEng (Hons) 1925, MEng 1927, and DEng (honorary) 1971 from the University of Liverpool.

Legget died in Ottawa at the age of 89.

Career

He worked for 11 years as a civil engineer in the construction industry in England and subsequently in Canada. In 1936, he began teaching at Queen's University and the University of Toronto. He left teaching in 1947 to establish and serve as director of the National Research Council of Canada's new Division of Building Research. He held this position until he retired in 1969.

Around 1945, after World war II, Leggat shaped the Environmental Conservation movement in Ontario by spearheading the Guelph Conference, the Ganaraska Study and the Conservation Authorities Act of Ontario (1946).

He was the founding President of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Between 1959 and 1960, Legget was the Chairman of the Engineering Geology Division of the Geological Society of America.

Philanthropy

The Legget Endowment Fund is used by the Conservation Foundation on an annual basis for otherwise-unfunded current needs in the Rideau Valley.

Publications

*Editor of "Soils in Canada"
*General editor of the "Canadian Building" Series, published by University of Toronto Press
*"Rideau Waterway" (1955), (revised 1972) - history of the Rideau Canal
*"Ottawa Waterway, Gateway to a Continent" (1975)
*"Canals of Canada" (1975)
*"Glacial Till" (1976)
*"Handbook of Geology in Civil Engineering" (1983) with P.F. Karrow

Honours and Awards

*Recognized by 13 honorary degrees including;
** 1963, an honorary Doctorate of Science by the University of Waterloo
** 1969, an honorary Doctorate of Science by the University of Western Ontario
** 1971, an honorary Doctorate of Engineering by the University of Liverpool
*Honours
** made an honorary member of the American Underground Construction Association
** received the Royal Bank Award
** made an Honorary Life Member of the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
** the Canadian Geotechnical Society awards the R.F. Legget Medal as its highest honour
** 1967, invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada
** 1989, promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada
*Awards
** 1972, awarded the Logan Medal by the Geological Association of Canada
** 1974, awarded the Claire P. Holdredge Award by Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists
** 1977, awarded the William Smith Medal by the Geological Society of London

External links

* [http://www.canadianencyclopedia.ca/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0004623 The Canadian Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.rideauvalley.on.ca/foundation/help/legget.pdf Robert F. Legget Endowment Fund]
* [http://rock.geosociety.org/egd/Page/History.html Heritage of Engineering Geology Division, Geological Society of America 1940s to 1990]
* [http://www.aegweb.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3755 Claire P. Holdredge Award]
* [http://www.auca.org/aua/honorary.html AUA Honorary Members]
* [http://www.pwgsc.gc.ca/cgsb/info/news/calibre/archives/article2-e.html Canadian General Standards Board 1934-1999]
* [https://www.agu.org/cgi-bin/agubookstore?memb=agu&cart=42663&intro=GESP0562995&order=&book=&topic=GE&search= Earth Science in the City: A Reader]
* [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0802065910 Rideau Waterway (Paperback)]
* [http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Committees/senate/Hon_Degrees.pdf University of Waterloo Honorary degrees]
* [http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/senate/honorary_degrees_by_year.pdf University of Western Ontario Honorary degrees]
* [http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=2696 Order of Canada]