Ralph B. Peck
Ralph Peck was born on June 23, 1912 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and moved to the United States at the age of six. He received a Civil Engineer degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1934 and was awarded a three-year fellowship for graduate school. His graduate studies focused mainly on structures, and on June 14, 1937, Peck obtained a Doctor of Civil Engineering degree. Peck initially believed that his passion was in structures. However, he later focused on geotechnical engineering and became a world leader in the field. Peck spent about 32 years teaching at the University of Illinois, where he influenced enormous amounts of students. Throughout his career, Peck received many awards including: The Norman Medal of the American Society of Civil Engineers (1944), The Wellington prize of the ASCE (1965), The Karl Terzaghi Award (1969), and The National Medal of Science (1975).