Omer W. Blodgett

Outstanding Achievement Award Recipient

Institute of Technology, Civil Engineering, May 4, 2007

Omer W. Blodgett earned bachelor degrees in metallurgical engineering (1941) and mechanical engineering (1974) from the University of Minnesota. He accepted a position with Lincoln Electric Co. in Cleveland in 1945 and today is a senior design consultant for the same company. He is recognized nationally and internationally as an expert in the design of welded connections and has been influential in the development of national standards to the code of the American Welding Society. He is the author of several significant papers on sizing welds, control of distortion, brittle fracture, and fatigue. He is particularly well known for two books Design of Welded Structures and Design of Weldments. Which, even though originally published over 40 years ago, are considered to form the foundation for the entire field of design for welding. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Institute of Steel and the T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award. He received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from LeTourneau University and in 1999 Engineering News Record identified him as one of the top 125 engineers in the past 125 years.

Biographies are as-of time of award presentation.