Historical development of soil mechanics

Soil has been used since ancient times for foundations, dams and roads, but a scientific approach began only in the 18th century.

• Ancient period: Egyptian, Indian, Chinese and Roman engineers built dams, canals, temples and roads using experience only, with no theory.
• 1773 - Coulomb: gave the theory of earth pressure on retaining walls and the shear strength equation $\tau = c + \sigma\tan\phi$.
• 1856 - Darcy: law of flow of water through sand, $v = ki$.
• 1857 - Rankine: earth pressure theory for cohesionless soil.
• 1911 - Atterberg: consistency limits (liquid, plastic and shrinkage limits).
• 1916 - Petterson (Sweden): slip circle method for slope stability, later developed by Fellenius into the method of slices (1927 onwards).
• 1925 - Karl Terzaghi: published Erdbaumechanik, the first book on the subject, and developed the principle of effective stress and the theory of consolidation. He is called the Father of Soil Mechanics.
• 1933 - Proctor: standard compaction test (moisture-density relationship).
• Later: Casagrande (soil classification, plasticity chart), Skempton (pore pressure parameters), Meyerhof and Hansen (bearing capacity), Bishop and Peck all contributed. The International Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering was formed in 1936.

Today the field also includes computer modelling and ground improvement methods.