Fields Geology Earth Sciences Spouse Karl von Terzaghi | Died 3 March 1992 | |
Notable awards Clemens Herschel Award Honorary membership in the Association of Engineering Geologists
First woman to be recognized as a Fellow of the Geological Society of America Children Eric Terzaghi
Margaret Terzaghi-Howe | ||
Ruth Doggett Terzaghi (October 14, 1903 – March 3, 1992) was both a Geologist and a professor of Geology. She worked with her husband Karl Terzaghi on many engineering projects, as well as completed many papers and research projects of her own.
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Early life
Ruth Allen Doggett was born in Chicago to Lewis and Grace Doggett. The Doggett family consisted of one brother and two sisters. Ruth and her siblings attended both public and private schools growing up. After graduating from high school, Ruth gained an interest in earth sciences, and attended the University of Chicago, finishing with a degree in both Geology and Earth sciences. Ruth graduated from the University of Chicago in 1924.
Education
At a young age, Ruth Allen Doggett attended both public and private schools when she lived in Chicago. When she grew up, she attended the University of Chicago and graduated in 1924 with a degree in Geology and Earth Sciences. Ruth received an M.S in Geology at the university when she wrote a thesis on the Origin of Abnormally Steep Dips in the Niagaran reefs off the Chicago coastline. Between 1925–1928, she taught at both Goucher College and Wellesley College. While pursuing her doctorate, Ruth engaged in geological research of Geology and Petrology of the Columbian Falls region of Maine while attending Radcliffe College; it wasn’t until 1930 that she received her Ph.D in Geology from Harvard.
Geological achievements
After writing her thesis on the Abnormal Dips in the Niagaran reefs near Chicago, Ruth spent many years from 1930 to 1938 travelling to different countries performing tests on soil and rock to determine how certain structures like bridges and dams should be built. Much of this work was done alongside her husband. She assisted him in his work by editing his papers and doing any additional research needed. During World War II Ruth began to develop an interest in the deterioration of cement. She was awarded the Clemens Herschel Prize for her paper on the similarity between the deterioration of concrete and the weathering of rock. This paper appeared in the Journal of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers in 1950. Later in 1950 Ruth's research led to her being assigned to determine the cause of the deterioration of concrete railway structures across the United States. Her experience in this field caught the attention of a bridge engineer Orwin Peck. Peck had been involved in the construction and design of a series of bridges with concrete components, which after 25 years began to deteriorate. Ruth made the suggestion that the current concrete beams be switched out for concrete beams with low alkali content. In 1948 she was awarded the first female position in the Geological Society of America for this idea. Her final scientific contribution and the paper she is most well known for "Sources of Error in Joint Surveys" Terzaghi R.D. (1965). Sources of Error in Joint Surveys. Geotechnique, 15(3) pp 287–304. is what earned her an honorary membership into the Association of Engineering Geologists. Her work was crucial in the early development of roadways and bridges as she was tasked with determining ways to combat the affects of deterioration in concrete. A task which she excelled at and which paved the way for the "modern" way of bridge building.
Societal obstacles
Being born a female in 1903 brought challenges to Ruth growing up. As both a woman and a scientist, Ruth was subjected to many obstacles on her path to becoming a renowned scientist. Before obtaining her doctorate degree, Ruth embarked on the career path of teaching geology, following a gendered societal role in the job market. Regardless of gendered roles within the working world, becoming a teacher of geology was a step forward in her scientific career as a geologist. After getting her doctorate, Ruth married her husband Karl Von Terzaghi. Despite her qualifications Ruth's efforts and work were overshadowed by the work of her husband. Ruth did not embark on her own individual research but instead became her husband's helpmate and provided him with services such as library research, editing his papers, and attending to her personal needs and teaching his classes.
Being a woman in the field of science during the early twentieth century (and still today) put many obstacles in the way of getting research, ideas and credentials. Women during this time were put under the values of a patriarchal hegemony and were expected to be maternal figures in society and fulfill the roles of a mother and a wife. Breaking these patriarchal stereotypes made it hard for women in science to receive credit for their work and make breakthroughs in scientific fields. In 1936 she gave birth to her son Eric and went from helping Karl with his work to doing what women of the time were expected to do, taking care of their children. Ruth therefore lost a lot of free time, limiting the contributions she could make to science while Karl went on to continue his work.
Living during the second World War was beneficial to Ruth. In 1938 Ruth and her son fled Vienna with Karl soon to follow. They moved to the United States where she later resumed her studies, focusing on concrete deterioration in slipways and roads. She used her experience to help the Association of American Railroads with expansive concrete problems. It is unknown how large of an impact Ruth could have had on American infrastructure if her work had not been limited by the roles she was put into. There are many more years of research that could have been done if she was not thrust into two very common roles for women of the time, assistant and a devoted mother. Ruth's attention to detail and her willingness to always produce the most scientifically sound results could have had a much greater impact if her expertise was applied in the western world earlier, perhaps stopping many disasters due to deterioration in concrete.
Later life
In 1928 she met her later to be husband, Karl Terzaghi, an Austrian civil engineer and geologist. Karl at the time of their meeting was a professor of civil engineering who is well recognized as the founder of soil mechanics (the scientific principles of engineering behaviour of earth matter). Ruth and Karl got married in 1930, beginning a close and lifelong partnership combining both their talents in engineering and geology. Upon their reuniting in France on June 7, 1930 after Ruth had finished her doctorate she became her husband's helpmate joining him for all of his field work, editing his papers, doing all of the necessary library research and taking care of his personal needs. Ruth gave birth on September 5, 1936 to her and Karl's first child, a son that they named Eric. In the summer of 1938 unknown to Karl, Ruth had arrived back in the United States. Ruth's husband Karl however was obliged to stay in Vienna as to not arise suspicion of his intent to flee the country. Word of Ruth's move back to the United States had come back to Vienna where others surmised that Ruth must have been Jewish and was leaving to flee the war, to which she was not. Five years after their first child, in May 1941 Ruth and Karl had a second child, a daughter they named Margaret. Ruth's responsibilities as a mother limited her ability to travel with her Husband and help him with his work in the field.
Historical context
Born in 1903, Ruth grew up to face different obstacles in society as a woman, scientist and citizen. As an adolescent and teenager Ruth attended both public and private schools allowing her to meet the requirements to study at the University of Chicago in the 1920s. Attending University in the 1920s was beneficial financially, as middle-class and working-class Americans experienced economic growth with the wages for workers being increased by 20% during this time period. Due to the growing wealth the middle and upper classes held, it made college affordable and accessible to those who met the requirements. The economic growth within the Twenties impacted the number of people attending colleges, more than doubling the class sizes. Due to this attendance increase, requirements to attend college became more competitive. Ruth met these competitive requirements and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1924 in geology and earth sciences. During the 1920s and most of the twentieth century colleges and scientific fields were seen to be male dominated sectors of society, by entering the field of science and obtaining college degrees Ruth broke this societal standard and began to pave a path for both herself in science and other women to follow this same path by going against predetermined biases of the hegemony. Teaching geology from 1925-1928 allowed Ruth to start a career for herself in the field of science. After beginning her career, she went back to school to receive her Ph.D from Harvard in 1930. Ruth successfully obtained her Ph.D before the economic crash in the 1930s. Marrying her husband Karl Terzaghi in 1930, the two left the United States during the Great Depression which allowed them to further their geological studies in different locations without the economic burden of the United States following them.
Russia in regards to geology had taken a much greater interest in the history of geological knowledge than the United States, by travelling to Soviet Russia to investigate the geological conditions different projects including an arch dam. Ruth and her husband were given the benefit of being in a place that held higher importance of geological studies to both further their career and avoid the economic turmoil of the United States.