Hardy Cross

Hardy Cross, 1885–1959, born in Nansemond County, Virginia, was a U.S. structural engineer and the developer of the moment distribution method for structural calculation of large buildings. The method was in general use from c.1935 until c.1960 when it was gradually superseded by other methods. It made possible the efficient and safe design of many reinforced concrete buildings during an entire generation. Cross was born to Virginia planter Thomas Hardy Cross and his wife Eleanor Elizabeth Wright. He had an elder brother, Tom Peete Cross, who would later become a Celtic studies scholar. Both studied at Norfolk Academy. He obtained a BS in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1908, and then joined the...