ALBERTSON

ALBERTSON 30.08. 1918 Hays KS/USA 12.01. 2009 Fort Collins CO/USA Maurice ‘Maurie’ Lee Albertson obtained his civil engineering education at State University of Iowa, Iowa City IA, and there submitted his PhD thesis in 1948. He then was an associate professor and later professor of civil engineering, and Head of Fluid Mechanics Research at Colorado State University CSU, Fort Collins CO. From 1857 until retirement, Albertson was in addition Campus Coordinator of the SEATO Graduate School of Engineering. He received the J.C. Stevens Award in 1948, and the Emil Hilgard Award in 1951 from the American Society of Civil Engineers ASCE. He also delivered the 1987 Hunter Rouse Hydraulic Engineering Lecture titled New challenges in water resources engineering. He received honorary membership from ASCE in 2002 ‘for his global leadership spanning six decades in water resources engineering, international development, and higher education’. Albertson’s professional career included fluid mechanics, water resources systems engineering, hydraulic engineering, water resources research, hydropower, renewable energy resources and international engineering education. He has written numerous papers on alluvial rivers and later on water resources with an outlook into renewable energies. Albertson earned major credit for building CSU’s research, graduate and international programs. Of even greater importance were his engineering contributions to international development studies. He played a key role in the establishment of the Peace Corps, and designed and established the SEATO Graduate School of Engineering, now the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok Thailand. Albertson, M.L., Tucker, S., Taylor, D.C. (1970). Treatise on urban water systems. Colorado State University: Fort Collins. Anonymous (1948). Maurice L. Albertson. Civil Engineering 18(1): 45. P Anonymous (1958). 1959 Hydraulics Convention. Civil Engineering 28(10): 790. P Anonymous (1964). Albertson, Maurice L. Who’s who in engineering 9: 17. Lewis: New York. Anonymous (2002). M.L. Albertson. ASCE News (12): 14-15. P Rahim Kia, A., Albertson, M.L., eds. (1987). Design of hydraulic structures. Colorado State University: Fort Collins CO. Sayre, W.W., Albertson, M.L. (1959). The effect of roughness spacing in rigid open channels. Dept. Civil Engng., Colorado State University: Fort Collins CO. https://www.today.colostate.edu/story.aspx?id=254 P

ALBRIGHT 18.01. 1848 Buchanan VA/USA 20.08. 1931 Buffalo NY/USA John Joseph Albright graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY, with the degree in mechanical engineering in 1868. In 1883 he moved to Buffalo after having been active in coal business. In 1896 he became interested in water power on the Madison River, and on the Hudson River in New York State, so that he became associated in 1901 with the Ontario Power Company, on Niagara Falls ON. In 1904 Albright and his associates negotiated on a contract between the Ontario Power Company and the Niagara Power Company for the purchase of Ontario power for distributing electrical power throughout New York State. In 1905 Albright and his associates took a substantial interest in the Niagara, Lockport and Ontario Power Company, to enlarge their scope in hydro-electricity. The charter granted the Company unlimited water supply from Niagara River. A canal would be constructed from the river to a point near Lockport NY to discharge the water in the gorge of Eighteen-Mile Creek, at which point the power plant would be built. However, after these works were initiated, the Congress passed the Burton Bill to limit the diversion of water to the power plant. In the meantime the power plant on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls was completed. The Burton Act prevented the canal construction, limiting the power production to 60,000 HP instead of the three times larger design value. This legislation struck a staggering blow to this ambitious enterprise. By 1906 the Company’s construction had grown to such an extent that it was delivering electric power as far east as Syracuse NY, and in 1913, Buffalo became the controlling factor in the Company when Albright’s interests bought out Westinghouse Company’s block of stock. The Ontario Company was by then the largest single generating plant. In 1917 the Canadian Government, eager to control its water power resources, negotiated with Albright for the purchase of the Ontario Power Company, but Albright retained his financial interests although he soon retired from active business. His son then became vice-president of the Niagara, Lockport, and Ontario Power Company. One of his father’s specialties was the rescue of apparently foundering companies, which he would reorganize until their financial status was beyond reproach. Anonymous (1931). John Joseph Albright. Buffalo Fine Arts Academy: Buffalo NY. Anonymous (1933). John J. Albright. Trans. ASCE 98: 1694-1697. https://www.albrightknox.org/join-support/planned-giving/the-john-j-albright-society/ P