Author: Prof. Dr. Michel Bakhoum
Born: 1913
Died: 1981
Bio: **Prof. Dr. Michel Bakhoum
Late Professor of Structural Analysis and Mechanics
Structural Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University** 

The late Prof. Michel Bakhoum was well known as a leader in the field of 
structural engineering in Egypt.   He was one of the eminent teachers, professors, and engineers in the Arabic Republic of Egypt.

     Education:  Prof. Dr. Michel Bakhoum was born in Cairo in 1913.  He graduated 
first of his class in 1931 in the National High School Diploma Exam, winning the prestigious Prize of Prince Omar Tosson.   Prof. Bakhoum obtained his B.Sc., M.Sc., and first Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from Cairo University (then known as Fuad I University) in 1936, 1942, 1945 respectively.  Prof. Bakhoum received a second Ph.D degree from University of Illinois (USA) in 1948.  He then spent a 
year in New York where he did post-doctoral studies at Columbia University while working simultaneously in a consulting firm. 

     Academia:  Prof. Bakhoum taught at Cairo University for about 44 years.  In 
1937 he was appointed Demonstrator in the Civil Engineering Department at Cairo University.  He also worked in the Concrete and Soil Mechanics laboratories.  After completing his Ph.D. studies, he took the post of lecturer in the same Department teaching Reinforced Concrete Design.  Prof. Bakhoum headed the Concrete Research Laboratory at Cairo University in the fifties.  In 1957, Prof. Bakhoum was appointed to the Chair of Professor of Theory of Structures and Elasticity, later renamed as Chair of Professor of Structural Analysis and Mechanics.  Prof. Bakhoum supervised several researchers for the degrees of M.Sc. and Ph.D. in reinforced concrete and structural analysis at Cairo University.  He was the author of many technical papers in reinforced concrete, prestressed concrete and structural analysis. He participated actively in international conferences in these fields. 

    Engineering:  In 1950, Prof. Bakhoum started with his life-long colleague and friend Prof. Dr. Ahmed Moharram, the consulting engineering partnership “Dr. A. Moharram and Dr. M. Bakhoum”.  With the expansion of its work in several Arab countries, in 1964, the firm acquired the name “Arab Consulting Engineers: Dr. A. Moharram and Dr. M. Bakhoum” (ACE).  ACE is one of the leading consulting engineering firms in Egypt and the Middle East.  It designed hundreds of projects including buildings, bridges, factories, airports, etc… Some of the most notable of these projects are: the prestressed shells for the International Exhibition Fair in Cairo, many of the bridges over the River Nile in Egypt, the Suez cement factory, and Cairo airport. 

     Recognized as a leader in the field of structural engineering, Professor Bakhoum has served on the committee on the Building Research Institute.  His responsibilities included overseeing the development of standard specifications for reinforced and prestressed concrete.  He also contributed in the development of specifications for prestressed bridges, and bridge loads. 

     Prof. Bakhoum was a member of several engineering societies.  He was a Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers (London) and representative of the Institution in Egypt from 1972 to 1979.  He was also a Member of the Egyptian Engineering Society, a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, a Member of the International Association for Bridges and Structural Engineering and various other engineering and academic institutions. 

    Prof. Bakhoum passed away on Tuesday 21 April 1981. 

    After his death, one of his colleagues, Prof. Dr. Sayed Ali Mortada (Prof. of Concrete Design at Alexandria University), wrote an obituary that was published in the Journal of the Egyptian Engineering Society, the translation of which reads: 
Prof. Dr. Michel Bakhoum 
A prominent star who shone in the sky of the 20th Century. 
He was an able Professor, a profound researcher, and an outstanding Structural Engineer… He had a surpassing capacity for perseverance to work and for distinctive output.   His works are a great evidence for his superiority during his life and will remain as an everlasting memory. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Bakhoum