Interview with Norman H. Brooks

Abstract

Brooks, the James Irvine Professor of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Emeritus, recalls his youth in Massachusetts, his studies at Harvard, courtship of his wife, Frederika, and their work in a Boston settlement house. In 1950 he began graduate work at Caltech. A 1952 summer job with the LA County Sanitation Districts led him to pursue PhD studies in hydrology and sedimentation with Caltech civil engineer Vito Vanoni and to an assistant professorship on the Caltech faculty, where he remained for the entirety of his career. He discusses his involvement, with J. McKee and P. Duwez, in the founding of the Keck Laboratory of Hydraulics and Water Resources and his design of an innovative recirculating flume to carry out pioneering hydraulic studies. He played a key role in the establishment of Caltech’s Environmental Engineering Science [EES] option, which incorporated his vision of integrating scientific studies more fully into environmental engineering teaching and research. He recalls the participation of J.J. Morgan, F, Raichlen, R. Koh, W, North, and John Seinfeld in both EES and the Environmental Quality Lab (EQL), which he directed from 1974 to 1993. Throughout these interviews, Brooks emphasizes the importance of firsthand observation of hydraulic issues, including sediment and pollutant dispersal and ocean outfalls; of taking a scientific approach to civil engineering; of understanding of ocean currents in using ocean as a resource for waste disposal. He also recalls his numerous consulting jobs on ocean outfalls in both the United States and abroad, including work in Boston; Athens, Greece; Sydney, Australia; Zurich; Taipei; Bangkok; and on California’s San Onofre nuclear plant.