Peter S. Eagleson

Peter S. Eagleson (February 27, 1928 – January 6, 2021) was an American hydrologist, author of Dynamic Hydrology and Ecohydrology: Darwinian Expression of Vegetation Form and Function. He taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1952 and was a Professor Emeritus. He held professional positions including member of the National Academy of Engineering (since 1982) and President of the American Geophysical Union from 1986-1988. He won many awards including the Stockholm International Water Institute's World Water Prize in 1997.

Early life Peter was born in 1928 in Philadelphia to Helen (née Sturges) and William Boal Eagleson and attended Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. At Lehigh he overlapped with his older brother, Bill, and was called for active duty with the US Army Corps of Engineers following graduation in 1949. He later returned to Lehigh for a master's degree in engineering, focused on hydraulics, and was recruited there by Arthur Ippen to join MIT's new hydrodynamics laboratory

Career Eagleson's research interests include dynamic hydrology, hydroclimatology, and forest ecology. His early research was on sediment transport and wave theory. He published multiple articles and book chapters about these subjects. It was not until 1964 that he significantly narrowed his focus to hydrology. In 1978 Eagleson published seven papers on climate, soil, and vegetation in a single issue of Water Resources Research, decades prior to the emergence of the field of ecohydrology. These papers immediately impacted the field of hydrology.

The Peter S. Eagleson Lecture in Hydrological Sciences was established by the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences in 2008 in his honor. International Hydrology Prize 1991 Robert E. Horton Medal 1988

Selected publications Eagleson, P.S. 2004. Ecohydrology. Darwinian Expression of Vegetation Form and Function. Cambridge University Press. Eagleson, P.S. 1970. Dynamic hydrology. McGraw-Hill. Eagleson, P.S. 1978. Climate, Soil, and Vegetation: 1. Introduction to Water Balance Dynamics. Water Resources Research, 14(5), 705–712. https://doi.org/10.1029/WR014i005p00705 Eagleson, P.S. 1978. Climate, Soil, and Vegetation: 2. The Distribution of Annual Precipitation Derived from Observed Storm Sequences. Water Resources Research, 14(5), 713–721. https://doi.org/10.1029/WR014i005p00713 Eagleson, P.S. 1978. Climate, Soil, and Vegetation: 3. A Simplified Model of Soil Moisture Movement in the Liquid Phase. Water Resources Research, 14(5), 722–730. https://doi.org/10.1029/WR014i005p00722 Eagleson, P.S. 1978. Climate, Soil, and Vegetation: 4. The Expected Value of Annual Evapotranspiration. Water Resources Research, 14(5), 731–739. https://doi.org/10.1029/WR014i005p00731 Eagleson, P.S. 1978. Climate, Soil, and Vegetation: 5. A Derived Distribution of Storm Surface Runoff. Water Resources Research, 14(5), 741–748. https://doi.org/10.1029/WR014i005p00741 Eagleson, P.S. 1978. Climate, Soil, and Vegetation: 6. Dynamics of the Annual Water Balance. Water Resources Research, 14(5), 749. https://doi.org/10.1029/WR014i005p00749 Eagleson, P.S. 1978. Climate, Soil, and Vegetation: 7. A Derived Distribution of Annual Water Yield. Water Resources Research, 14(5), 765. https://doi.org/10.1029/WR014i005p00765