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This is the 28th volume of Memorial Tributes compiled by the National Academy of Engineering as a personal remembrance of the lives and outstanding achievements of its members and international members. These volumes are intended to stand as an enduring record of the many contributions of engineers and engineering to the benefit of humankind. In most cases, the authors of the tributes are contemporaries or colleagues who had personal knowledge of the interests and the engineering accomplishments of the deceased. Through its members and international members, the Academy...
This is the 28th volume of Memorial Tributes compiled by the National Academy of Engineering as a personal remembrance of the lives and outstanding achievements of its members and international members. These volumes are intended to stand as an enduring record of the many contributions of engineers and engineering to the benefit of humankind. In most cases, the authors of the tributes are contemporaries or colleagues who had personal knowledge of the interests and the engineering accomplishments of the deceased. Through its members and international members, the Academy carries out the responsibilities for which it was established in 1964.
Under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering was formed as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. Members are elected on the basis of significant contributions to engineering theory and practice and to the literature of engineering or on the basis of demonstrated unusual accomplishments in the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology. The National Academies share a responsibility to advise the federal government on matters of science and technology. The expertise and credibility that the National Academy of Engineering brings to that task stem directly from the abilities, interests, and achievements of our members and international members, our colleagues and friends, whose special gifts we remember in this book.
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BY NICHOLAS SITAR SUBMITTED BY THE NAE HOME SECRETARY
RICHARD EDWIN GOODMAN, a University of California, Berkeley, faculty member from 1964 to 1994, died on March 10, 2025, in Anchorage, Alaska, at the age of 89. Through his research and consulting, Dick made many important contributions to rock mechanics and engineering geology.
Dick was born to Herbert and Pauline Goodman on Dec. 25, 1935, in Jamaica, New York. He showed early promise as a musician, and, at age 10, he was enrolled in a private piano training academy in Manhattan, where he also excelled academically. He entered public high school at 13, and at 15 he won a scholarship competition and became a Ford Foundation Scholar at the University of Wisconsin, where he majored in geology. After his sophomore year, he transferred to Cornell University, earning a B.S. degree in geology in 1955 and a M.S. in civil engineering and economic geology in 1958. He continued his graduate studies in geological engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, earning his Ph.D. in 1964.
Upon completing his doctorate, Dick was appointed to the faculty of the Department of Civil Engineering (now Civil and Environmental Engineering) at Berkeley to develop a program in engineering geology and rock mechanics. He served on the faculty for 30 years, rising from assistant professor to distinguished professor of geological engineering. Passionate about teaching, he mentored 42 Ph.D. students, most of whom he welcomed as family during their studies and with whom he maintained enduring relationships. Early in his academic career, he developed an apparatus and method for in-situ measurement of rock properties, later known as the “Goodman Jack.” In his pioneering research on the identification of failure modes and kinematics of jointed, blocky, rock masses, he invented the base friction apparatus, led the first implementation of a contact element in finite element simulations, and spearheaded the development of block theory and its applications.
A prolific author, Dick produced an extensive body of fundamental and advanced work, including Methods of Geological Engineering in Discontinuous Rocks (West Group, 1975); Introduction to Rock Mechanics (John Wiley & Sons, 1980 and 1988 [paperback ed.]); Block Theory and its Application to Rock Engineering, co-authored with Gen-Hua Shi (Prentice-Hall, 1984); and Engineering Geology – Rock in Engineering Construction (Wiley, 1993). He also wrote the widely acclaimed historical book Karl Terzaghi – The Engineer as Artist (American Society of Civil Engineers, 1998). Over his career, he authored or co-authored more than 200 technical papers in journals and conference proceedings.
Dick received numerous honors, including the E.B. Burwell Award from the Geological Society of America in 1977, the Basic Research Award from the U.S. National Committee for Rock Mechanics in 1984, and the H. Bolton Seed Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 2000. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1991 and was named the Rankine Lecturer by the British Geotechnical Association in 1995. The Norwegian Geotechnical Institute selected him as a Terzaghi Fellow for 1995-96. Other notable recognitions include delivering the 2000 George F. Sowers Memorial Lecture at Georgia Institute of Technology and receiving the 2000 Civil Engineering History and the Heritage Award from ASCE for his book on Terzaghi.
In 1957, early in his career, Dick spent six months mineral prospecting on Baffin Island. He camped among polar bears in subzero temperatures, learned to communicate with local Inuit people in their language, traveled the area by dog sled, and survived many harrowing adventures. Later, he became internationally known as a consultant, with projects taking him to every state in the United States and throughout South America, Asia, South Africa, and Europe.
Closer to home, he was a passionate and accomplished musician. He traveled throughout the Bay Area to sing in opera productions and, in 1979, founded the Berkeley Opera Company with the support of his cellist wife, Sue, directing it for 13 years. Under his leadership, the company staged more than 30 full productions. He performed more than 70 major roles with several opera companies, including Figaro, Leporello, Falstaff, and Rigoletto. Among friends and colleagues, he was also known as a piano virtuoso, often giving impromptu recitals at meetings and conferences whenever a piano was available.
He was an ardent lover of nature and a passionate defender of wildlife and natural resources. Known for his quick wit, he always had a pun ready for any conversation. Unconcerned with others’ opinions, he was never afraid to stand up for what he believed. Family, friends, and colleagues remember him as “a force” and celebrate his eternal “boyish joy.”
Dick is survived by Lillian (Sue) Goodman, his beloved wife of more than 67 years; his daughter, Lilly Goodman-Allwright; sons-in-law Michael Allwright and Eric Cohn; and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by two daughters, Holly Cohn and Paula Goodman, and several beloved dogs.