Skip to main content

Memorial Tributes Volume 16 (2012) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

JORJ O. OSTERBERG
Pages 212-215

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 213...
... It was there that he met and married Ruth Embree, a Virginian, who was working in Vicksburg as a nurse. While at WES, Jorj invented and patented the WES soil pressure cell and worked with many of the researchers who were instrumental in the development of soil mechanics during World War II.
Read the entire page →
From page 214...
... Throughout his career he continually manifested an enviable combination of sound theoretical background, excellent engineering judgment, good appreciation of economic considerations, and an astute understanding of human relationships. The years provided innumerable examples of Jorj's keen ability to recognize and diagnose a problem and to suggest a technically implementable and economically feasible solution.
Read the entire page →
From page 215...
... His WES pressure cell design was among the first in the field; his piston sampler is still the standard in the profession after more than half a century; and his drilled shaft load cell literally changed the practice in deep foundations worldwide. As a practitioner, Jorj Osterberg was not only a good foundation engineer, but he was also an engineer's engineer.
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • pressure cell
  • experiment station
  • professor donald
  • engineering faculty
  • industrial companies

  • economic considerations
  • overly conservative
  • frequent disputes
  • mechanics led
  • family plot

  • vast collection
  • foundations worldwide
  • soil pressure
  • philosophy inherently
  • noteworthy pioneers

  • buena vista
  • inherently equated
  • civic organizations
  • civil engineering
  • keen ability

  • consulting engineers
  • poor engineering
  • befriended professor
  • piston sampler
  • cell design

  • astute understanding
  • dozen countries
  • engineering judgment
  • shortly thereafter
  • graduate courses


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.