On 15 June 2023 Michele Jamiolkowski passed away in Turin, Italy, aged 91. His sudden death represents a tragic personal loss, not only to his family and his friends, but to the entire international geotechnical community, because undoubtedly he was among the pre-eminent, most recognised contributors to the field of soil mechanics and foundation engineering in the world and throughout the history of the field.
His name is linked worldwide to the safeguarding of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, an extremely challenging geotechnical problem, to which he devoted most of his energy from 1990 to 2001. During this period he chaired the ‘ad hoc’ international committee that succeeded in devising a definite solution, the peculiarity of which was the respect of the integrity of the monument, besides guaranteeing safety.
His contributions to the engineering profession are also highlighted by his leading role in some of the most visible projects in the world, such as: early work on preloading of soft clays and the use of vertical drains for large oil tanks and embankments, which produced an influential Ciria report on the topic; the project of flood prevention in Venice (MOSE); the restoration and strengthening of the bell tower at St Mark’s Square in Venice; exploring the challenges associated with the Strait of Messina Bridge; the reconstruction of the new shelter of the Chernobyl nuclear plant; the development of the world's second largest copper mine tailings pond of Zelazny Most, in Poland.
As someone stimulated to solve the most challenging geotechnical problems in the world, Michele Jamiolkowski always recognised the role of research in advancing the state of the art. In this respect, he was not only an inspired researcher, but also a strong and gifted leader, at a level such that to single out the most important quality he possessed is not an easy task.
Certainly, he possessed an overwhelming enthusiasm and the unique ability to convince people that they could do things or accomplish feats that they themselves would never attempt to do on their own. Because of these qualities he was able to promote, starting from the 1980s and within a network among research institutions (Politecnico di Torino, Italy; ENEL-CRIS – the Italian National Electricity Board, Hydraulic and Structural Research Centre – Milan, Italy; and ISMES – the Experimental Institute for Models and Structures – Bergamo, Italy), the construction and use of a large-scale calibration chamber for the interpretation of in situ tests in sands, as well as the ISMGEO geotechnical centrifuge, which is located at the former ISMES Geotechnical Institute in Bergamo, Italy.
Those engineering projects led to unprecedented investigations, which are extensively documented in seminal contributions to the geotechnical literature, covering topics that range from soil behaviour and interpretation of in situ tests to foundation engineering, and were recognised as the common ground of the methods of sandy soil characterisation for the purposes of application.
Michele Jamiolkowski was born in Stryj, Poland on 21 July 1932, where he spent his early years; he studied at Warsaw Technical University, obtaining a master's degree in soil mechanics and engineering geology in 1959. He undertook postgraduate studies at the University of Kiev, Ukraine, the University of Laval in Quebec, Canada and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA.
He began his academic career in 1969 in Italy, which became his adopted country. In that year, to teach soil mechanics he was appointed to a professorship in the Department of Structural Engineering at the Politecnico di Torino, where he continued to be based throughout his career, being nominated Professor Emeritus once he retired in 2007.
In 1979 he was one of the founders of the first doctorate programme in geotechnical engineering in Italy.
Michele Jamiolkowski was a highly esteemed lecturer at many universities in Europe and North America and an active member of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), which he chaired for a term starting in January 1994.
The list of invited lectures that Michele delivered on special occasions and at the international conferences of ISSMGE is rather impressive; not all of them are referred to here in detail. The choice to mention just some of them is therefore a matter of preference, related to important steps of his academic journey.
In 1985 he presented the theme lecture on ‘New developments in field and laboratory testing of soils’ at the ICSMFE in San Francisco, which is widely recognised as a landmark contribution on experimental soil behaviour; this lecture is a comprehensive summary of his research activity, as well as the research cooperation with MIT, Boston, USA and the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) of Oslo, Norway.
In 1986 Michele was invited to deliver the James Forrest lecture at the ICE, London, UK titled ‘Research applied to geotechnical engineering’, in which he adopted as a guiding thread the sentence that Karl Terzaghi outlined in his 45th Forrest lecture in 1938: the value of an engineering science is determined by what it can accomplish as a tool in the hands of the practising engineer. His unique capability in disseminating knowledge and performing activities that required a lot of energy is proved by the cross-Canada lecture tour, which he performed in 1991.
In 2001, at the international conference on soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering, XV ICSMGE Istanbul, Turkey, he gave the Terzaghi oration; in 2004, he presented the keynote lecture at the Skempton memorial conference on advances in geotechnical engineering, Imperial College, London, UK; in 2006 the Ralph B. Peck lecture, Geo-Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), GeorgiaTech, Atlanta, GA, USA; and in 2011, the 3rd Victor de Mello lecture, Lisbon, Portugal, in which he summarised the research devoted to the role of geophysical testing in geotechnical site characterisation, with notable aspects related to small-strain stiffness and to fully saturated compared against near-to-saturated soils.
In 2013, he was invited by the ICE, London, UK to deliver the 53rd Rankine lecture, which deals with geotechnical aspects of the development of the already mentioned world's second largest copper mine tailings pond, Zelazny Most, in Poland.
The respect gained in academic and professional relationships with pre-eminent figures of the international geotechnical community resulted in many awards and honours, among them the De Beer award from the Belgian Geotechnical Society; the Karl Terzaghi award and the Ralph B. Peck lecture award, both from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE); Doctor of Science (honoris causa) in Civil Engineering, Technical University of Bucharest, Romania and Doctor in Civil Engineering (honoris causa), University of Ghent, Belgium; Honorary Professor of the Academia Sinica of Guangzhou, China; Honourable International Member of the Japanese Geotechnical Society, just to mention a few.
Finally, it is worth remembering that in 1964 he founded the well-known engineering consulting company Studio Geotecnico Italiano.
In approaching the final notes of this tribute, I am particularly pleased to remember that, when he was at university, Michele's office was home to many people, and anybody could walk through his door at any time and discuss with him any problem.
He was a leader who never took credit for himself for the work that others had done and he had the habit of cleverly planting ideas in the minds of his co-workers, always ready to provide opportunities and to facilitate the growth of the younger generations.
Michele enjoyed people, he derived much pleasure from being with people and gave much to many people. In particular, every one of us in the Politecnico di Torino family has reserved a special place in our hearts for his wonderful and lasting memory.
