| Helmut Krawinkler | |
| Birth Date: | 6 April 1940 |
| Field: | Earthquake engineering |
| Work Institutions: | Stanford University |
| Alma Mater: | Vienna University of Technology California State University San Jose University of California, Berkeley |
| Doctoral Advisor: | Vitelmo V. Bertero |
| Known For: | Performance-based earthquake engineering |
| Prizes: | Honorary member of the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC) (2004) SEAONC College of Fellows (2003) G.W. Housner Medal (2012) National Academy of Engineering (2012) |
Helmut Krawinkler (April 6, 1940 – April 16, 2012) was an Austrian-born American structural engineer.
Krawinkler was a native of Innsbruck, Austria, born on April 6, 1940.[1] He earned an undergraduate degree from the Vienna University of Technology in 1964.[2] Krawinkler then completed a master's degree at California State University San Jose, funded by a Fulbright Scholarship between 1965 and 1967.[3] In 1971, he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a doctorate and became an assistant research engineer at Berkeley. After a year as lecturer at California State University, Krawinkler joined the Stanford University faculty in 1973.[3] [4]
He directed the Blume Earthquake Engineering Center from 1985 to 1995.[5] He was appointed John A. Blume Professor within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1991.[6] Krawinkler was granted emeritus status in 2007.[7] He was elected to the United States National Academy of Engineering in 2012 "for development of performance-based earthquake engineering procedures for evaluating and rehabilitating buildings."[8]
That same year, Krawinkler was diagnosed with a brain tumor that necessitated surgery performed in February 2012.[4] He died in Palo Alto, California, on April 16, 2012, while seeking further treatment.[1] [4]