Memorial to Thomas Hampton Thornburn1916-1986

HERBERT O. IRELANDUniversity o f Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, Illinois

Thomas H. Thornburn, professor emeritus of civil engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana, died on August 3,1986, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tom was bom in Urbana, Illinois, June 29,1916, to Jennie Pearl and John H. Thornburn, a bank president. His older brother, John N. Thornburn (deceased), was an attorney. Tom married Mary Molby in 1942. She survives, as do their four sons—John Michael, Thomas H.,Timothy N., and Robert J.—and one grandson.

When Tom was 13 (1929), the family moved to Evanston, Illinois, where he graduated from Evanston High School with high honors. His bachelor of science degree at the University of Illinois in 1938 was accompanied by election to Phi Beta Kappa and the University of Illinois’ Bronze Tablet for highest honors in chemistry. Although his B.S. was in chemistry, he was in the chemical engineering curriculum for 3 years. In the fall of 1938, Tom received a fellowship at Michigan State College where he worked with George J. Bouyoucos on an assigned problem involving a chemical approach to the study of soil erosion. His major studies were soil physics and chemistry, with electives in geology, statistical methods, and atomic physics, among others. Immediately after receiving his Ph.D. in Agriculture in 1931, Tom took a position as physical research engineer with the Research Division of the Michigan State Highway Department, working mostly with soil stabilization; he also did laboratory and field work on concrete mixes.

In March 1942, Tom enlisted as an Army aviation cadet and was called for pilot training in April. As an Army Air Force pilot (1st Lt.), he flew 51 medium bomber (B-52) missions over Sicily, Italy, and the Balkans. He returned to inactive status on May 21, 1945.

On his release from military service, Tom contacted Ralph B. Peck at the University of Illinois concerning an opening on a cooperative research project between the Civil Engineering Department and the State Division of Highways. It was desirable to include on the staff someone trained in the chemistry of soils, and Tom’s education, experience, and personal qualifications were ideally suited to the position. Professor Huntington, head of the Civil Engineering Department, noted, “Men who might fill this position satisfactorily are very scarce, even in normal times,” in connection with Tom’s employment as a research associate. He advanced to research professor in civil engineering in 1955, and full professor in 1957. He retired as professor emeritus on September 1, 1975, and established residence in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Tom was a Fellow in both the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Geological Society of America, and a member of the American Society for Testing and Materials, Highway Research Board, American Society of Photogrammetry, American Society for Engineering Education, and the National Society of Professional Engineers. He was a registered professional engineer in Illinois, chairman of the ASTM subcommittee D-18 on classification and identification of soils from 1961 to 1971, and served on the executive subcommittee of D-18 from 1968 to 1974. He served as vice-president (1966-1967) and president (1967-1968) of the Great Lakes Region, American Society of Photogrammetry. He was a member of Sigma Xi and Tau Beta Pi.

2 THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

Tom was a recognized national and international expert on the properties of surficial soils. With his background in geology and soil science, he developed statistical relationships between agricultural soil types and engineering properties of soils in order to extend the use of county soil maps to engineering purposes. He was particularly interested in the correlation of engineering properties of soil deposits with the pedologic, geologic, and air-photo classification of land forms. Tom is probably best known as co-author, with Ralph B. Peck and Walter E. Hanson, of one of the most widely used introductory texts in geotechnical engineering, Foundation Engineering.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF T. H. THORNBURN1948 A study of subgrade conditions on a railroad in the western United States: Proceedings,

Second International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, v. 4,p. 218-222; also, 1949, University of Illinois Engineering Experiment Station Circular 55, p. 43-52.

1949 The design of concrete mixes containing entrained air: Proceedings, American Society for Testing and Materials, v. 49, p. 921-941.

1951 (and Bissett, J. R.) The preparation of soil-engineering maps from agricultural reports, in Engineering Soil Survey Mapping: Highway Research Board Bulletin 46.

1952 Preparation of county engineering soil maps for Illinois, in Symposium on Surface and Subsurface Reconnaissance: American Society for Testing and Materials Special Technical Publication 122, p. 40-45.

1953 (with Peck, R. B., and Hanson, W. E.) Foundation Engineering: New York, John Wiley & Sons, 410 p. (Translated into Russian in 1959, with a foreword by M. N. Goldstein. Modem Asia edition also published in 1959.)

1955 (with Deere, D. U.) Soil-mechanics properties of weathered volcanic rocks in Hawaii: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 66, no. 12, Part 2, p. 1548.

____ (and Deere, D. U.) Engineering problems associated with weathered limestone: GeologicalSociety of America Bulletin, v. 66, no. 12, Part 2, p. 1626.

1956 (with Bauer, E. E.) Introductory Soil and Bituminous Testing: Champaign, Illinois, Stipes Publishing Company, 112 p.

1959 (and Larsen, W. R.) A statistical study of soil sampling: Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundation Division, American Society of Civil Engineers, v. 85, SM5, p. 1-13; v. 86, SM6, p. 87-88.

1960 (with Odell, R. T., and McKenzie, L. J.) Relationships of Atterberg limits to some other properties of Illinois soils: Proceedings, Soil Science Society of America, v. 24, no. 4,p. 297-300.

1961 (with Morse, R. K.) Reliability of soil map units: Proceedings, Fifth International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, v. 1, p. 259-262.

1962 (with Bauer, E. E.) Introductory Soil Testing: Champaign, Illinois, Stipes Publishing Company, 118 p.

1963 Surface Deposits of Illinois: Engineering Experiment Station Circular 80, Urbana,University of Illinois, 135 p.

1964 (with Liu, T. K.) Investigation of surficial soils by field vane test, in Symposium on Soil Exploration: American Society for Testing and Materials Special Technical Publication 351, p. 44-52.

1965 (with Siemens, J. C., and Weber, J. A.) Mechanics of soil as influenced by model tillage tools: Transactions, American Society of Agricultural Engineering, v. 8, no. 1, p. 1-7.

____ (with Liu, T. K.) Statistically controlled engineering soil survey, Abridgment: HighwayResearch Board, Highway Research Record 81, p. 59-60.

MEMORIAL TO THOMAS H. THORNBURN 31965 (with Liu, T. K.) Engineering index properties of some surficial soils in Illinois: Engineering

Experiment Station Bulletin 477, Urbana, University of Illinois, 111 p.1966 (with Liu, T. K.) Soil strip maps: Photogrammetric Engineering, v. 31, no. 6,

p. 1030-1038.____ The use of agricultural soil surveys in the planning and construction of highways, in

Soil Surveys and Land Use Planning: Soil Science Society of America and American Society of Agronomy, p. 87-103.

____ (with Liu, T. K., Odell, R. T., and Etter, W. C.) A comparison of clay contents determinedby hydrometer and pipette methods using reduced major axis analysis: Proceedings, Soil Science Society of America, v. 30, no. 6, p. 665-669.

1968 Soil Exploration, in Gaylord, E. H., and Gaylord, C. N., eds., Structural Engineering Handbook: McGraw-Hill Book Company, p. 5-24 to 5-45.

1969 Geology and Pedology in Highway Soil Engineering: in Vames, D. J., and Kiersch, G., eds., Reviews in Engineering Geology II: Geological Society of America, p. 17-57.

____ (and Mura, R.) Stabilization of soils with inorganic salts and bases; A review of theliterature: Highway Research Record no. 194, p. 1-22.

1972 (with Hurley, C. H.) Sodium silicate stabilization of soils; A review of the literature: Highway Research Record no. 381, p. 46-79.

____ (with Peck, R. B., and Hanson, W. E.) Foundation Engineering, Second Edition: NewYork, John Wiley & Sons, 514 p.

Printed in U.S.A. 11/87