Nigel Priestley

This is the thirtieth volume in the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute's series, Connections: The EERI Oral History Series. EERI began this series to preserve the recollections of some of those who have had pioneering careers in the field of earthquake engineering. Significant, even revolutionary, changes have occurred in earthquake engineering since individuals first began thinking in modern, scientific ways about how to protect construction and society from earthquakes. The...
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This is the thirtieth volume in the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute's series, Connections: The EERI Oral History Series. EERI began this series to preserve the recollections of some of those who have had pioneering careers in the field of earthquake engineering. Significant, even revolutionary, changes have occurred in earthquake engineering since individuals first began thinking in modern, scientific ways about how to protect construction and society from earthquakes. The Connections series helps document this important history. This volume, jointly published with the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering, features Dr. Nigel Priestley (1943-2014)-a significant figure in the field of earthquake engineering both in his native New Zealand, in the United States, and globally. Interviews were conducted in the final year of his life by Richard Sharpe, a prominent New Zealand earthquake engineer, and by his daughter Rebecca Priestley, a historian of science with the Centre for Science in Society at Victoria University of Wellington. During his career, Priestley had a lasting impact on three institutions of higher education: the University of Canterbury, the University of California, San Diego, and the ROSE School in Pavia, Italy. After earning his PhD in 1996, he spent a decade with the New Zealand Ministry of Works, leading extensive studies on bridges and buildings. As a faculty member at the University of Canterbury, he conducted research on the seismic behaviour of masonry structures in collaboration with Professor Tom Paulay, and served as the president of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering from 1985-1986. He then spent over a decade on the faculty at the University of California, San Diego, before becoming Co-Director of the ROSE School, where he continued until 2007. Priestley served on the engineering advisory group and the Royal Commission established by the New Zealand Government to investigate building collapse in the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquake. He published more than 450 papers, mainly on earthquake engineering, and received numerous awards for his research. He was the co-author of three seismic design books: Seismic Design of Concrete and Masonry Buildings, Seismic Design and Retrofit of Bridges, and Displacement-Based Seismic Design of Structures.