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Title:	The first 75 years : history of hydraulics engineering at the Waterways Experiment Station
Authors:	Fatherree, Ben H.
Keywords:	U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station Hydraulic engineering--History Military hydrology--History
Publisher:	Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.)
Abstract:	The history of engineering is the story of men and women in their attempts to understand, control, and accommodate their environment. In 1929 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers established a small hydraulics laboratory in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in recognition of the increasingly vital role of scientific investigation in a laboratory setting as a necessary adjunct to the age-old practice of actual hands-on observation. Discoveries emanating from the laboratory, designated as the Waterways Experiment Station, paid immediate dividends and sparked a new confidence among the nation's engineering community to make bold advancements and challenge or affirm long-standing doctrines. This initial success broadened the Waterways Experiment Station's activities from mere hydraulic experiments for the Mississippi River to a Corp of Engineers-wide mission encompassing diverse fields of research. In this way, that early hydraulics laboratory was the building block of the modem Corps of Engineers' research and development mission administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC). Headquartered at the Waterways Experiment Station reservation, the ERDC continues the tradition of advancing the limits of the engineering frontier. From its modest beginnings in hydraulics experimentation, the Corps of Engineers' research and development mission now spans the globe from building better levees on the Mississippi River to supporting our military operations in Iraq, the ERDC is there; from providing solutions to benefit threatened and endangered species to providing the nation's warfighters with superior knowledge of the battlefield, the ERDC is there; from building sustainable military bases at home to nation building abroad, the ERDC is there. The History of Hydraulics Engineering at the Waterways Experiment Station traces the evolution of hydraulic engineering at the Waterways Experiment Station from the establishment of a small, narrowly focused laboratory in 1929 through the impressive achievements in the dawn of the twenty-first century. It is, however, more than an unadorned compendium of technological advances and setbacks. Intertwining complex human factors, administrative and organizational developments, and technological progress, this history attempts to capture the total institutional experience of this outstanding national asset.
Description:	History
Rights:	Approved for Public Release; Distribution is Unlimited
URI:	https://hdl.handle.net/11681/46803
Appears in Collections:	History