GEORGE ALFRED KIERSCH (1918-2001); GUIDING LIGHT OF MODERN ENGINEERING GEOLOGY

Born to a mining and construction-oriented family, at Modesto, California, George graduated from Colorado School of Mines (1938), served as an Army combat engineer officer, then worked in Civil Works, and completed a doctorate at Arizona. He assessed the mineral resources of the Navajo Nation, managed the Southern Pacific resource survey, headed the Cornell Geology Department for twenty years, and was a licensed professional engineer.

George witnessed and participated in the birth of modern Engineering Geology and the 1947 founding of the GSA Engineering Geology Division.

George, a totally practical scientist, gave us the bulk of our professional literature:

1. Major participation in the GSA Review Volumes and Case Histories in Engineering Geology;

2. Constant attention to GSA specialty sessions and field trips;

3. 1955 Engineering Geology - Scope, Development and Utilization;

4. 1978 editing of Heritage of Engineering Geology, our core bible;

5. Adherence to the principles of sedimentation and stratigraphy as the means of dealing with soil and weak-rock;

6. His constant theme that good field mapping and accurate observation, recording and quantitative assessment of material properties, as wedded to engineering geologic map units with definite three-dimensional boundaries, is the essential reason for our existence as applied geologists.