Hardy Cross
| Hardy Cross | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1885 Nansemond County, Virginia, United States |
| Died | 1959 |
| Nationality | United States |
| Education |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States Norfolk Academy Harvard University |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Structural engineer |
| Institutions |
Institution of Structural Engineers Brown University University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Yale University |
| Significant advance | moment distribution method for reinforced concrete |
| Awards |
Frank P. Brown Medal (1959) American Society for Engineering Education Lamme Medal (1944), ACI (1935) Wason Medal for Most Meritorious Paper, IStructE Gold Medal |
Hardy Cross (1885, Nansemond County, Virginia–1959) was an American structural engineer and the developer of the moment distribution method for structural analysis of statically indeterminate structures. The method was in general use from c. 1935 until c. 1960 when it was gradually superseded by other methods.
Cross was born to Virginia planter Thomas Hardy Cross and his wife Eleanor Elizabeth Wright. He had an elder brother, Tom Peete Cross, who would later become a Celtic studies scholar. Both studied at Norfolk Academy. He obtained a BS in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1908, and then joined the bridge department of the Missouri Pacific Railroad in St. Louis, where he remained for a year, after which he returned to Norfolk Academy in 1909. After a year of graduate study at Harvard he was awarded the MCE degree in 1911. Hardy Cross developed the moment distribution method while working at Harvard university.
Cross next became an assistant professor of civil engineering at Brown University, where he taught for seven years. After a brief return to general engineering practice, he accepted a position as professor of structural engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in 1921. At the University of Illinois Hardy Cross developed his moment distribution method. He left Illinois in 1937 to become the chair of the civil engineering department at Yale University, a position from which he retired in 1953.
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