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class of 1945
inducted in 1999
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Peter S. Eagleson, ScD
Scientist & Educator
"The Father of Scientific Hydrology"
Peter Eagleson,
Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been called
the father of scientific hydrology. The field of hydrology, once considered
merely an engineering discipline with only local applications, has been
established by Eagleson's work as a rigorous
science of global scope and significance. His influential work has drawn upon
such varied scientific disciplines as fluid dynamics, climatology, geology,
ecology, chemistry, and statistics.
The day after his graduation from Cheltenham in 1945, Eagleson began his
studies at Lehigh University. Participating in the wartime
accelerated program, Eagleson received his B.S. in
civil engineering in February 1949. Immediately following his graduation, Eagleson, an Advanced ROTC cadet at Lehigh, was called
for active duty in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in which he served as a
2nd Lieutenant in a construction battalion in Okinawa. Three months after his discharge, the
Korean War began.
Following a brief stint working with a consulting engineer in Glenside, PA, Eagleson
decided to continue his education. Says Eagleson,
"I knew that the theory rather than the practice of engineering was what
interested me." Eagleson returned to Lehigh University for his graduate studies to discover
that the only available assistant teaching position was in the area of civil
engineering known as hydraulics (the study of the flow of liquids through
pipes and channels). Up to this point, Eagleson's
student status had kept him from active duty in the Korean War. By the time
he completed his Master of Science, the choice was, he says,"either
go fight in Korea or go on for a Ph.D." Fortunately
for the world of science, Eagleson continued his
studies at the new Hydrodynamics Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT). Eagleson completed his doctorate
in 1956, studying the mechanics of fluid flow and its application to
irrigation systems and harbors.
It was in the 1960's that Eagleson began the work
that would bring him renown. At that time, hydrology was thought of as an
engineering discipline, a method of understanding the behavior of water in a
specific region over a short period of time. Eagleson
broke new ground by treating hydrology as a rigorous science which studying
the interrelation of the whole world's water usage. He incorporated many of
his new ideas into his textbook Dynamic Hydrology (1970), considered one of
the great works on the subject to this day.
Eagleson has held such important positions as:
Edmund K. Turner Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, MIT,
1984-1993
Head, Department of Civil Engineering, MIT, 1970-1975
President, American Geophysical Union, 1986-1988
He has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the 1991
International Hydrology Prize and the 1992 James R. Killian Jr. Faculty
Achievement Award, recognizing extraordinary professional accomplishments and
service to MIT. In 1997 Eagleson was awarded the
Stockholm Water Prize, an international award honoring outstanding
contributions in the field of water conservation. The $150,000 Water Prize
was presented to Eagleson by King Carl XVI Gustav
of Sweden.
Says Eagleson of his work: "To me these
problems have an intrinsic beauty which transcends their enormous importance
to the provision of society's water. I feel privileged to have been paid to
work on their solution. Since I couldn't hit a curve ball, there is nothing I
would rather have done with my life."
Since his retirement from teaching in 1993, Eagleson
has worked to integrate hydrology with Darwinian ecology. He is married to
Beverly Grossman, ‘45 and has three children from a previous marriage.
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