Papers of Harold Malcolm Westergaard

Harold Malcolm Westergaard (1888-1950), civil engineer and engineering scientist, was the Gordon McKay Professor of Civil Engineering at Harvard University from 1936 to 1950. After studying engineering in Copenhagen and Germany, Westergaard joined the faculty at the University of Illinois, holding several faculty positions from 1916 to 1936. Westergaard became a member of the Harvard University faculty as Gordon McKay Professor of Civil Engineering in 1936. Westergaard served as Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Engineering from 1937 to 1946.

Westergaard's main contribution to engineering was in structural analysis, the determination of the effects of loads on physical structures and their components, including buildings, bridges, aircraft, and ships. Westergaard published papers on the theory of reinforced concrete plates, on buckling theory, and the mechanical behavior of concrete pavements for roads. He worked as an advisor to the United States Bureau of Reclamation during the building of the Hoover Dam and studied the effects of earthquakes on the Panama Canal. Also, Westergaard was an advisor to the United States Navy Bureau of Yards and Docks, the United States Bureau of Public Roads (on the design of highway pavements and highway bridge slabs), and the Army Chief of Engineers (on airfield pavements). During World War II, Westergaard served as a commander in the Civil Engineer Corps of the United States Navy and was a member of a commission established to assess the effects on buildings after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.

Westergaard married Rachel Harriet Talbot in 1925. They had two children: Mary Talbot and Peter Talbot. Westergaard's first name is sometimes spelled, Harald.