Don Kirkham was born on February 11, 1908 in Provo, Utah. He received his B.S. (1933), M.S. (1934), and Ph. D. (1938) from Columbia University in physics.
He accepted a position as an Instructor and Assistant Professor (1938-1941) in Math and Physics at Utah State Agricultural College. He then worked as a Physists (1941-1946) at the U. S. Naval Ordnance Lab before becoming a Professor (1946-1978) of Soil Physics at Iowa State College (University). Kirkham was also named Director (1964 -1973) of the Iowa State University's Iowa State Water Resources Institute. He received a Fulbright Fellowship (1950 -1951), which allowed him to work at the State Agriculture University at Wageningen, The Netherlands. Kirkham was named the Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Agriculture (1958). He retired from Iowa State University in 1978.
Kirkham's main areas of research focused on the physical properties governing the fertility of soils and applying physics as well as mathematics to the movements of fluids through porous material. He gained prominence for developing standard techniques of measurements in the relationships between soil and water and is known for inventing the neutron probe which measures soil moisture. He wrote and presented numerous papers on drainage theory and soil physics. Dr Kirkham is also the co-author of the textbook titled Advanced Soil Physics (S592.3 .K57).
His extensive travels and experiences brought him to places such as Belgium, Hungary, Turkey, Egypt, Istanbul, Chile, the Soviet Union, India, and Argentina where he was a teacher, consultant, and agricultural delegate. He received an honorary degree from The University of Ghent, Belgium when he translated educational and scientific material form Flemish to English.
During his career Dr. Kirkham won numerous awards including Stevenson Award (1953), Wolf Foundation Prize for Agricultural Research (1983), and the Governor's Science Medal (1985). He was also the recipient of the Bouyoucou Soil Science Distinguished Career Award (1989), Distinguished Fellow Award from the Iowa Academy of Science and the Horton Award for Outstanding Career in Hydrology Research from the American Geophysical Union.
Dr. Kirkham was a member of several honor societies, such as Gamma Sigma Delta, Phi Kappa Phi, and Sigma Xi. He was a member of the American Physical Society, the Soil Science Society of America, the American Society of Agronomy and the American Geophysical Union. Dr. Kirkham also belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where he was a missionary (1927-1930) to Germany and president of Elders Quorum. He also served as vice president of the Sons of the American Revolution.