George Ter-Stepanian (, ; December 4, 2006) was a Soviet Armenian scientist in the field of soil mechanics and engineering geology, one of the founders of the landslide studies, and the originator of the theories of the depth creep of slopes, the structural composition of post-ice-age clay and suspension pressure acting against filtration. Ter-Stepanian was a member of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia.Տեր-Ստեփանյան Գեորգ Եսայու: Հայկական Սովետական հանրագիտարան: [Ter-Stepanian Georg]. Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia. Yerevan: Armenian Encyclopedia Press, 1985, V. 11, pp. 686-687.Տեր-Ստեփանյան Գեորգ Եսայիի (1907-2006): G.I. Ter-Stepanian (1907–2006). Overview of Life, Scientific, Pedagogical, and Public Activities . National Library of Armenia. In Armenian.Nazarov A., Arakelian A. George Ter-Stepanian's Scientific Way (in the 75th Anniversary of his Birthday) . Problems of Geomechanics, Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences Press, 1982, № 8, pp. 1-8.
Life, education and career Ter-Stepanian was born on April 16, 1907, in Tiflis (Tbilisi), Georgia. His father, Isaiah Zakharievich Ter-Stepanian, was a veterinary physician, whose ancestors moved from Ani, a city in Western Armenia (presently in Turkey), to Georgia in the 14th century. His mother, Lucy Harutyunovna Ter-Stepanian (née Harutyunian) was a teacher of Russian and Armenian languages.
Ter-Stepanian embarked on his scientific work in 1930 at the Transcaucasian Institute of Structures while still a student at the Georgian Polytechnical Institute. From 1932 to 1941 he worked at various research institutes in Leningrad (Saint-Petersburg) and held a teaching position at the Leningrad Civil Engineering Institute (1931–1937 and 1939–1941). His research activities focused on landslides and pile foundations of bridges, as well as on investigation of internal soil friction.
Even early in his career Ter-Stepanian's expertise and knowledge was highly sought after and he was asked to join Soviet teams abroad. From 1937 to 1939 he worked in Tehran, Tabriz and Isfahan (Iran) as a geotechnical engineer in charge of the construction of elevators and other major facilities. From 1946 to 1949 Ter-Stepanian worked in Germany representing Armenian Academy of Sciences.
Ter-Stepanian was known for his innovative and daring approach to solving problems. As a result, during WWII, Ter-Stepanian was appointed a Chief of the Transcaucasian Research Party, a group entrusted with making projections about the landslide activation in strategically important military zones between the Caspian and the Black Seas. He was responsible for implementing landslide prevention measures that would allow the uninterrupted passage of military trains along the Trans-Caucasian railroad.
After WWII, Ter-Stepanian decided to devote his expertise to the development of his homeland Armenia, and moved to Yerevan, the capital of the Republic. He was invited to work at the newly organized Armenian Academy of Sciences, where he founded and headed up the Department of the Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology. Later on, he reorganized the Department to form the Laboratory of Geomechanics, which he directed until 1994. Along with his scientific work, Ter-Stpeanian significantly contributed to Armenia's environmental protection.
In 1994, Ter-Stepanian moved to the United States, where he was granted permanent residency as a distinguished scientist. Ter-Stepanian continued his scientific work in the United States. He discovered an unknown force of nature, the Suspension Force, as well as the Method for the settling of suspensions with the use of seepage force and vibrations. This was an important finding for environmental protection.
Ter-Stepanian spoke several languages. Beside Armenian and Russian, he was fluent in English, French, German; he was also proficient in Persian and Georgian.
Ter-Stepanian spent his final years in the United States and in Canada. He died at age 99 on December 4, 2006, in Montreal, Canada.Георгий Исаевич Тер-Степанян (1907-2006). Потери науки. [George I. Ter-Stepanian (1907–2006). Losses of Science]. Bulletin of the National Academy of Sciences of the RA. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences Press, 2007, V. LX, pp. 62–63.Георгий Исаевич Тер-Степанян (1907–2006). Основания, фундаменты и механика грунтов. [George I. Ter-Stepanian (1907–2006). Soils Mechanics and Foundation Engineering]. M.: OFMG Press, 2007, № 1, pp. 62–63.George Ter-Stepanian. Obituary. Géotechnique. London, 2007, V. LVII, № 4, pp. 407–408.
Academic achievements George Ter-Stepanian earned a diploma in civil engineering from the Georgian Polytechnical Institute, in 1931. At the same time, he studied in the English Department of the Institute of Foreign Languages. He defended his PhD dissertation in 1939 and his post-doctoral dissertation in 1956, both at the Leningrad Civil Engineering Institute, presently the Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering. In 1960, he earned the scientific rank of a professor. In 1977, Ter-Stepanian was elected a Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, and in 1996 he became a Full Member of the same academy.
Outstanding scientific contributions Ter-Stepanian's contributions to science are outstanding. He is the author of ten monographs and more than 300 scientific articles, 80 of which were published outside of the former USSR.
Ter-Stepanian was a holder of several patents valid in the USSR, including those for the creation of instruments and devices to study the physico-mechanical attributes of soils. He also held patents in Canada (1999)Ter-Stepanian G. Méthode de décantation des suspensions utilisant la force d’écoulement et les vibrations. [Method for Settling of Suspensions with Use of Seepage Force and Vibrations]. Brevet Canadien 2,228,072, émis le 7 décembre 1999. and USA (2001)Ter-Stepanian G. Method for Settling of Suspensions with Use of Seepage Force and Vibrations. US Patent US RE37,733 E, reissued June 11th, 2002. for the above-mentioned method.
Ter-Stepanian was the founder and chief editor of the trilingual (Armenian, Russian, English) scientific journal «Problems of Geomechanics», which was published between 1967 and 1988 and received wide international recognition. Articles by major Soviet and international scientists appeared the journal, many translated by Ter-Stepanian himself.
In 1975 Ter-Stepanian founded and acted as a chief editor of another scientific journal – «Reports of the Geomechanics Laboratory», published in Russian.
Ter-Stepanian served as a member of the editorial board of the scientific journals «Géotechnique» (London), «Engineering Geology» (Moscow), «Studia geotechnica et mechanica» (Wrocław) and «Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR, Earth Sciences» (Yerevan). He published in English and German more than 600 short essays of the selected works by Soviet scientists. For 20 years these essays appeared in the Cologne-based journal «Geotechnical Abstracts» of the German National Committee on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering.
Several of Ter-Stepanian's works are fundamental and seminal in the field of soil mechanics and engineering geology and continue to be globally recognized. His expertise was internationally recognized and highly sought after, as evidenced by the frequent invitations both as a plenary and as a key-note speaker to international scientific forums, congresses, and universities across the world.