A classic book on failures is Levy & Salvadori’s Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail (ca 1992).
They review a variety of bridges, buildings, dams and other objects with exciting failure modes. Remarkably, they manage to be respectful of the regrettable loss of life while also being kind of funny. For example, the classic film of the failure of the Tacoma Narrows bridge shown to physics undergrads is hilarious when you watch Professor Whatsisname walk down the nodal line; it’s somewhat less funny when you realize the degree of danger to his life.
An architect friend once claimed to me that under Hammurabic law, if a building fell down and killed somebody, the architect was killed too—and that this led to modern architecture firms being partnerships instead of corporations, with personal liability for the architect when he puts his seal on plans. Another friend, whose credibility I know less about, asserted that in Roman times when building an arch the engineer was required to stand underneath it as the construction scaffolding and trusses were removed.
I can’t verify the stories, and don’t approve of the brutality involved in any case. But a high degree of personal involvement with the consequences of failure does perhaps inspire some degree of meticulousness, and perhaps solicitation of peer review. (“Hey, Fred! I gotta stand under this bridge. Does it look right to you?”)
This “put your quality control where your mouth is” approach seems to be quite common in history. I remember reading somewhere (and take this with the level of credibility deserved of sentences beginning with “I remember reading somewhere”), that in the English Civil War all breastplates had a ‘proof mark’, which was the dent made by firing a pistol shot at the armour at close range, while it was worn by the armourer.
Edit: This may well be the origin of the term ‘bullet-proof’
If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly and the house falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death. If it ruins goods, he shall make compensation for them, and shall re-erect the house at his own expense.
A classic book on failures is Levy & Salvadori’s Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail (ca 1992).
They review a variety of bridges, buildings, dams and other objects with exciting failure modes. Remarkably, they manage to be respectful of the regrettable loss of life while also being kind of funny. For example, the classic film of the failure of the Tacoma Narrows bridge shown to physics undergrads is hilarious when you watch Professor Whatsisname walk down the nodal line; it’s somewhat less funny when you realize the degree of danger to his life.
An architect friend once claimed to me that under Hammurabic law, if a building fell down and killed somebody, the architect was killed too—and that this led to modern architecture firms being partnerships instead of corporations, with personal liability for the architect when he puts his seal on plans. Another friend, whose credibility I know less about, asserted that in Roman times when building an arch the engineer was required to stand underneath it as the construction scaffolding and trusses were removed.
I can’t verify the stories, and don’t approve of the brutality involved in any case. But a high degree of personal involvement with the consequences of failure does perhaps inspire some degree of meticulousness, and perhaps solicitation of peer review. (“Hey, Fred! I gotta stand under this bridge. Does it look right to you?”)
This “put your quality control where your mouth is” approach seems to be quite common in history. I remember reading somewhere (and take this with the level of credibility deserved of sentences beginning with “I remember reading somewhere”), that in the English Civil War all breastplates had a ‘proof mark’, which was the dent made by firing a pistol shot at the armour at close range, while it was worn by the armourer.
Edit: This may well be the origin of the term ‘bullet-proof’
That’s true. From the Code: