Robert Legget

Background

Legget was born in Liverpool, England of Scottish parents.

Education

University of Liverpool.

Career

He was internationally known for his contributions to engineering, geology and building research and standardization. He is credited with the establishment of co-operation among Canadian geotechnical engineers, geologists and pedologists. He obtained a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) 1925, Master of Engineering

1927, and Doctor of Engineering

(honorary) 1971 from the University of Liverpool. Legget died in Ottawa at the age of 89. He worked for 11 years as a civil engineer in the construction industry in England and subsequently in Canada.

In 1936, he began teaching at Queen"s University and the University of Toronto.

He left teaching in 1947 to establish and serve as director of the National Research Council of Canada"s new Division of Building Research. He held this position until he retired in 1969.

Participant of his legacy there was to establish a National 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, after World World War II, Leggat shaped the Environmental Conservation movement in Ontario by spearheading the Guelph Conference, the Ganaraska Study and the Conservation Authorities Acting of Ontario (1946).

He was the founding President of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Between 1959 and 1960, Legget was the Chairman of the Engineering Geology Division of the Geological Society of America. After he retired, Doctor Legget wrote many books on the history of transportation in Canada including Ottawa Waterway: Gateway to A Continent, Rideau Waterway, Canals of Canada, The Seaway, and others, and he was a contributor to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. The Legget Endowment Fund is used by the Conservation Foundation on an annual basis for otherwise-unfunded current needs in the Rideau Valley.

, awards and legacy Recognized by 13 honorary degrees including.

Achievements

• Recognized by 13 honorary degrees including; 1963, an honorary Doctorate of Science by the University of Waterloo 1969, an honorary Doctorate of Science by the University of Western Ontario 1971, an honorary Doctorate of Engineering by the University of Liverpool 1972, an honorary Doctorate of Science by Concordia University Honours made an honorary member of the American Underground Construction Association received the Royal Bank Award made an Honorary Life Member of the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority the Canadian Geotechnical Society awards the R.F. Legget Medal as its highest honour 1967, invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada 1989, promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada Awards 1972, awarded the Logan Medal by the Geological Association of Canada 1974, awarded the Claire P. Holdredge Award by Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists 1977, awarded the William Smith Medal by the Geological Society of London Archives.

Works

• Other Work

  • Publications Editor of Soils in Canada General editor of the Canadian Building Series, published by University of Toronto Press Rideau Waterway (1955), (revised 1972) – history of the Rideau Canal Ottawa Waterway, Gateway to a Continent (1975) Canals of Canada (1975) Glacial Till (1976) Handbook of Geology in Civil Engineering (1983) with P.F. Karrow Railways of Canada(1973).

Membership

Made an honorary member of the American Underground Construction Association

made an Honorary Life Member of the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority.