ABSTRACT
STOUT 14.11. 1865 Jerseyville IL/USA 04.08. 1935 Denver CO/USA Oscar van Pelt Stout obtained both his BCE and CE degrees in 1888 and 1897, respectively, from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln NE. He then joined various engineering departments until 1890, when becoming city engineer of Beatrice NE. From 1891 he taught at various grades civil engineering, and was from 1912 to 1920 the Dean of the College of Engineering, University of Nebraska. In parallel he was from 1894 to 1903 resident hydrographer of Nebraska and the adjoining States, and from then to 1913 irrigation expert and engineer, US Department of Agriculture. Later he joined as irrigation engineer the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture at the Agricultural Experiment Station, Lincoln NE. From 1922 Stout was employed on corporative irrigation investigations by the US Department of Agriculture, and the State of California. Stout during his time as Dean at the University of Nebraska was mainly concerned with reclamation, drainage, and hydraulic engineering. He excelled in the combination of theoretical knowledge and simple and practical ways in doing. He devised for example an effective method to determine the daily discharges from a limited number of flow measurements on streams, referred to as ‘Stout’s method for shifting stream beds’. He further proposed the proportional weir, a plate weir of which the opening allowed for a constant approach flow velocity, as early as in 1896. He had a most subtle way of pointing out the human elements in engineering lessons not found in books, but of which he was a master. One of his epigrams has become famous, namely ‘the engineer is a resourceful man’. Those who were graduated under him carried with them the conviction that engineering was an office of trust and a profession of honour, indeed a conviction so firmly instilled that it could never be forgotten in their profession. Anonymous (1933). Stout, Oscar van Pelt. Who’s who in America 17: 2208. Marquis: Chicago. Anonymous (1935). Oscar van Pelt Stout. Agricultural Engineering 16(9): 373. P Anonymous (1936). Oscar van Pelt Stour. Trans. ASCE 101: 1654-1657. Kolupaila, S. (1960). Oscar P. Stout. Journal of the Hydraulics Division ASCE 86(HY1): 37. P Stout, O. van P. (1897). A new form of weir notch. Trans. Nebraska Engng. Society 1(1): 13-16. Stout, O. van P. (1904). Notes on the computation of stream gaugings. Engineering News 52(23): 521-522. Stout, O. van P. (1914). The proportional-flow weir devised in 1896. Engineering News 72(3): 148-149.
