 |
|
     |
|
|
Harold L. Strom Harold L. Strom ’36, Boalt ’39, died in Oakland on January 19. He was a yell leader at Cal; president of Pi Lambda Phi and later its alumni association; and of Circle C Alumni
T.Y. Lin The passing of T.Y. Lin on November 15, 2003, just a day after his ninety-first birthday, ends a heroic chapter in the history of structural engineering. In many ways, he was the last of the fearless visionaries, starting in the eighteenth century, who blended the new possibilities of industrial civilization and the social aspirations of the modern world. But what distinguished T.Y.
So T.Y. combined the highest ranges of Asian and Western culture, not only as a practicing and theoretical engineer but also as a beloved and inspiring professor whose best students have also made notable contributions to modern construction. Born in China in 1912, he arrived in Berkeley as a graduate student in 1931, earned a master’s degree in 1933, and was named Alumnus of the Year in 1994 for building bridges--not only between pieces of land but between civilizations. He was perhaps the greatest structural engineer in the world. He himself seemed almost not to realize that he was also an artist. But the thrilling (and alas, never to be built) proposal for the Ruck-a-Chucky Bridge in the Sierra foothills, strung by cables from the mountainsides, is one of the supreme environmental sculptures of our time, done in collaboration with his friend, the architect/engineer Myron Goldsmith. Equally fated not to be built is the greatest of T.Y.’s conceptual masterpieces: the colossal project for the Strait of Gibraltar, calling for 16,000-foot spans, each four times the length of the main span of the Golden Gate Bridge. To T.Y., the significance of such mega-structures is that they show the real capabilities of our age. The advanced material he is most associated with is prestressed concrete. Although T.Y. did not invent prestressed concrete, he improved it in decisive ways, so that it became practicable around the world. Computer analysis helped, too; and when T.Y. found that his mathematics, learned with such brilliance at Berkeley a generation earlier, was no longer adequate, he enrolled in an undergraduate course when he was in his sixties. “I got an ‘A,’” he said. In his old age, contrary to usual experience, his range of activity and intellectual curiosity expanded. Once again he was working in China, where in a triumphal effort much earlier, during the 1930s and 1940s, he put up literally hundreds of bridges, tunnels, culverts, and other utilitarian structures for the state railroad system. Because there was no steel or concrete available, he used stone and wood. But the work was done, in a backward country at war with Japan, according to rational principles, and the designs were truly modern in the sense that T.Y. made the most of contemporary conditions. Half a century later, in the rapidly changing China of the 1990s, he was back, doing some engineering, but more importantly trying to construct an intellectual bridge to political democracy. In this case, his personal contributions were unique. He renewed childhood friendships and showed an uncommon understanding of China’s problems. And if China could not match the architectural standards of other places in Southeast Asia, he had the joy of creating bridges that would be handsome anywhere--for example, the red-arched spans of Taiwan, which may seem traditional but in some ways are very advanced. T.Y. in any case was proud and happy with the results. Looking back over his accomplishments of the past three quarters of a century, one is struck by his career as a sustained search for excellence in whatever he undertook. It was an ideal commitment to public education. Fortunately, he had the San Francisco Chronicle as a place to voice his opinions. Many of these were courageous attacks on bureaucratic hackwork. Working together, he and I won some fierce battles, none more satisfying than the honor of redesigning the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge. This elegant ribbon of steel is actually a monument to our collaboration and friendship, one of the happiest of my life. But hundreds of other friends can say the same. And after them will come more generations whose lives will be enriched by the truth and courage of T.Y. Lin. --Remembered by Allan Temko, Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic
Therese Thau Heyman Therese Thau Heyman, senior curator of prints and photographs at the Oakland Musuem and wife of former Berkeley chancellor Ira Michael Heyman, died January 16. “Through her efforts, the museum is recognized as the major center for historical and contemporary California photographic art,” said the Oakland Museum’s executive director, Dennis Power. From 1980 to 1990, she had another job as first lady of the Berkeley campus, where she hosted events, welcomed thousands of new students, and greeted world leaders. |
 April 2004
| ||||||||||||||
| About
CAA Contact
Us
Update
your Address CAA Career Opportunities Privacy Policy |
©2009 California Alumni
Association. All Rights Reserved For questions about CAA: info@alumni.berkeley.edu Technical inquiries: web@alumni.berkeley.edu
|
Alumni House Berkeley, CA 94720-7520 Toll-Free: (888) CAL-ALUM Phone: (510) 642-7026 Fax: (510) 642-6252
|
