Theodore V. Galambos, P.E., Ph.D., DM.ASCE, M.NAE

This edition of the AISc Specification is dedicated to Dr. Theodore (Ted) V. Galambos, a long-time member of the AISC Committee on Specifications and several of its Task Committees. His pivotal research and publications on the load and resistance factor design (LRFD) method transformed the AISC Specification. This method of designing steel buildings was first introduced in the 1986 AISC Load and Resistance Factor Design Specification for Structural Steel Buildings. Ted led the effort to adopt this new method and helped maintain it through numerous editions of the Specification. Ted was also the co-author of the Development of a Probability Based Load Criterion for American National Standard, the document on which ASCE/SEI 7 is based. For his contributions to research, development, and teaching of behavior, analysis, and design of steel structures, and application of probabilistic methods, Ted was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1979 and as a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 1990.

In addition to his work on code committees, Ted has been directly involved with numerous other publications that have promoted the state-of-the-art of structural steel design and construction, including as author of Structural Members and Frames (1968) and senior author of Basic Steel Design with LRFD (1996), as well as serving as editor of the 4th and 5th editions of the Guide to Stability Design Criteria for Metal Structures (1988, 1998). He has also continually demonstrated a commitment to the practice of engineering by serving as a consultant to industry through his activities with AISC, the Steel Joist Institute, and the American Iron and Steel Institute.

After receiving his doctorate from Lehigh University in 1959, Ted became a Research Assistant Professor at Lehigh University. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, his research focused on the stability behavior and plastic design of steel beam-columns and multistory steel frames. While at Lehigh, he conducted fundamental tests on the inelastic behavior of steel wide-flange members. In 1965, Ted moved to Washington University in St. Louis as the first holder of the Harold D. Jolley Professorship, and he served as Department Chair from 1970 to 1978. At this time, Ted also began his ground-breaking research on LRFD of structures. Ted was appointed the James L. Record Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Minnesota in 1981, where he continued a distinguished record of research, teaching, and service through professional committee activities, including ASCE, the Structural Stability Research Council, the Transportation Research Board, and the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering.

As a professor, Ted is a beloved teacher who instructed many future engineers in steel design with an exemplary blending of theory and practice. Ted’s commitment to sharing his knowledge, his willingness to mentor several generations of young researchers, and his strong ethical standards have made him one of the giants of his generation. His contributions on the behavior of steel structures will have a lasting impact on the structural engineering profession.