Biographical entry Mead, Elwood (1858 - 1936)

Summary

Elwood Mead was born in the USA and came to Australia to act as Chairman of the Victorian State Rivers and Water Supply Commission (1907 to 1915). Prior to this he worked at Colorado State Agricultural College, rapidly becoming Professor of Irrigation Engineering. He then went on to become State Engineer in Wyoming and Director of irrigation investigations with the Department of Agriculture (1899-1907). He worked part time for the University of California at Berkeley during this last post. Once Mead returned to the States in 1915 he took up a position of Professor of Rural Institutions at University of California. Lake Mead, near Boulder Dam, is named after him.

Details

Events

1882

Education - Bachelor of Science (BS) completed at Purdue University, USA

1883

Education - Certificate (?) of Engineering (CE) completed at the Iowa State College of Agriculture, USA

1884

Education - Master of Science (MS) completed at Purdue University

1899 - 1907

Career position - Director of Irrigation Investigations with the Colorado(?) Department of Agriculture, USA

1904

Education - Diploma in Engineering completed at Purdue University

1907 - c. 1914

Career position - Chairman of the Victorian Government's State Rivers and Water Supply Commission

1915 - 1924

Career position - Professor of Rural Institutions at the University of California, USA

1924 -

Career position - Federal Commissioner for reclamation, USA

Published resources

Book Sections

• Powell, J. M., 'Mead, Elwood (1858-1936), Irrigation Engineer', in Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 10, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1986, pp. 467-468. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100456b.htm. Details

Online Resources

• National Library of Australia, 'Mead, Elwood', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-919011. Details