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Robert Ferguson Legget | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1904-09-29)September 29, 1904 Liverpool, England |
| Died | April 17, 1994(1994-04-17) (aged 89) Ottawa, Ontario |
| Alma mater | University of Liverpool |
| Occupation | civil engineer |
| Awards | Order of Canada |
Robert Ferguson LeggetCC FRSC FRSE (September 29, 1904 – April 17, 1994) was a civil engineer, historian and non-fiction writer. He is internationally known for his contributions to engineering, geology and building research and standardization. He is credited with the establishment of co-operation amongst Canadian geotechnical engineers, geologists andpedologists.
Legget was born inLiverpool, England, to Donald Thompson Legget and his wife Mary, both of whom were of Scottish descent. He was educated at theMerchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby.[1] He studied Civil Engineering and obtained a BEng (Hons) in 1925, and MEng 1927, from theUniversity of Liverpool. He was initially employed as an engineer on theLochaber Water Power Scheme inScotland. He then emigrated toCanada in 1929, working for the Power Corporation of Canada.[2]
In 1936, he began teaching atQueen's University and theUniversity of Toronto. He left teaching in 1947 to establish and serve as director of theNational Research Council of Canada's new Division of Building Research. He held this position until he retired in 1969. Part of his legacy there was to establish aNational Building Code that was respected throughout all of Canada, as opposed to the multitude of inconsistent local codes that were prevalent in 1947.
Around 1945, afterWorld War II, Legget shaped theEnvironmental Conservation movement inOntario by spearheading the Guelph Conference, theGanaraska Study and theConservation Authorities Act of Ontario (1946). He also was a founder, in 1962, of theCanadian Permafrost Conferences.
He was the founding President of theCanadian Academy of Engineering.
Between 1959 and 1960, Legget was the chairman of the Engineering Geology Division of theGeological Society of America (GSA). He served as GSA president in 1966.[3]
In 1971 he received an honorary doctorate (DEng) from theUniversity of Liverpool. In 1977 he received the Sir John Kennedy Medal.
After he retired, Dr. Legget wrote many books on the history of transportation in Canada includingOttawa Waterway: Gateway to A Continent,Rideau Waterway,Canals of Canada,The Seaway, and others, and he was a contributor to theDictionary of Canadian Biography.
Legget died in Ottawa at the age of 89. His wife, Mary Free, had died in 1984. They had one son.
The Legget Endowment Fund is used by the Conservation Foundation on an annual basis for otherwise-unfunded current needs in the Rideau Valley.
