EPFL's long history of Geotechnical Engineering

It was an era of massive construction projects - dams, roads, and bridges - and many felt there was a need to better understand and control the behavior of the soil and rock underpinnings of all these infrastructures. Thus, in 1935, the Soil and Rock Mechanics Laboratories were created. Today, they're celebrating their 75th birthday. At that time, it wasn't EPFL. It wasn't even EPUL yet, the name EPFL carried before it became a federal institution. No, in 1935, when the Geotechnical Engineering (Géotechnique in French) department was created, the institution was still called the Lausanne School of Engineering (Ecole d'ingénieurs de Lausanne) and received its funding from the canton of Vaud. The Grand Council had decided to create the school following the inauguration of the Grand Dixence dam, often referred to as the "site of the century." This entity was the forefather of the current Soil Mechanics Laboratory (LMS) and Rock Mechanics Laboratory (LMR), making them two of EPFL's oldest labs.