- : “rouse = 14 Extratos de una carta escrita pelo Br. Karl Terzaghi ao seu filho Skipper, em 5,3.1956, Querido s A carta que voce enviou a sua mae no dia 20 de fevereiro, conti ~ nha a seguinte frase: "Gostaria de ser um pouco mais intelegivel, mas como estou, eu mesmo, num estado de confusdo e incerteza, pro curando um pouco de "verdade", por isso é dificil para mim fazer uma descrigao ou explicar meu estado de espfrito atual". Esta frase me fez lenbrar meus dias @e colégio. Se alguém me pedisse naquela Gpoca para descrever meu estado de espirito, teria feito a mesma confissdo. Assim, acredito cue po- der ser consolador para voce conhecer algumas coisas das minhas préprias atribulagdes e como elas se modificaram no decorrer do tempo. Uma vez voce mencionou durante uma conversagSo quase nada conhe- cer sobre a minha vida. Considerando’ seu atual estado de espirito, estou achando que este pode ser o momento oportuno para preencher esta lacuna. Em 1900, na idade de 17 anos, me formei na Realschule, o que cor~ responde ac "high school" (cientffico ou classico). Tinha perdi- do meu pai 10 anos antes, e meu tutor insistia que eu deveria es- tudar encenharia, vois ele considerava cue a engenharia era uma profissao com grande futuro.. Minha escolha se limitava aos di - versos ramos de engenharia; e ele ficou decepcionado cuando esco~ Ini a engenharia mec&nica que me parecia mais racional do cue os outxos ramos. Naquele tempo, as escolas de engenharia ndo ensinavam "Filologia", nem a histéria da encenharia, e todos os cursos eram estritamente profissionais, enquanto que eu-estava possuido pelo desejo inten- so de me tornar o que voce chama - ura pessoa "realmente pons. Este desejo tomou conta de meus pensamentos e de meus atos duran- te os quatro préxirtos anos.Bis tee cee aca ena c e eure aac eee cece ace Fui grandomente auxiliado em alcangar meu objetivo pelo fato de que indo éramos obrigados a comparecer As conféréncias. Bastava s6 passar nas provas finais para receber nosso diploma. Estavamos obrigados a comparecer somente 4 duas conferéncias, uma no final do segundo ano e a segunda no final do quarto ano. Podiamos tan bém, nos matricular em qualquer curso ou cursos da Universidade. Aproveitando essas "liberdades académicas" durante os 4 anos de Universidade, nunca estudei mais do que a primeira e a filtima con cia em qualauer um dos meus cursos de engenharia. Em compen (o me matriculei em diversos cursos da Universidade, tais com Pilosofia do século 19, Histéria da Filosofia, Psicologia Experi- mental, Histéria da Arte, Geologia Geral, Petrografia, Paleontolo gia, Astronomia Teédrica e também Fisiologia das Plantas. Mas tudo isso nfo me parecia suficiente. Juntei-me a um amigo meu, mais Kant". velho, para estudar e dissecar "A Critica da Pura Razdo, 4 Frequentemente sentdvamos num "café" até 3 ou 4 horas da madruga- da, trocando idéias a respeito de nossos assuntos favoritos, que incluiam as pegas de teatro de Strindherg e de Ibsen, as disserta gSes de Thomas Carlyle e de Emerson, o "Das Kapital” de Marx e o "Progresso e Pobreza" de Henry George. © fluxo de informacdes diversas que penetravam no meu sistema per ceptivo produziam uma indigest&o mental insuportdvel, porque nao Satisfaziam meus anseios para conseguir achar a resposta a minha grande pergunta crucial: Qual é o sentido da vida ? Por isso, os perfodos de busca frenética alternavam-se com outros perfodos de bebedeiras, turbuléncia e duelos. Estes perfodos al~ gumas vezes duravam semanas a fio. Fiquei cliente assiduo das casas de penhores, minhas dividas se acumulavam e varias delas me levavam a delegacia devido a minha conduta desordeira. Naqueles dias, nos circulos académicos, um tal comportamento era considerado uma manifestagdo normal da exuberancia dos jovens,mas fazia muitas vitimas, poraue a impressio que dava ao piiblico era imprevisivel.Uma vez que ninguém da minha famflia, exceto minha irmi, mostra va compreens&o para a turbuléncia de meu estado de espirito, eu a notava o que sentia no meu jornal Intimo (diario ?), tanto meus acessos de exuberancia como meu comportamento, e estas anotagdes refletem os altos e baixos de minha luta para a compreensio da vi da. Estes jornais Intimos est&o agora numa das pratileiras de meu escritério no Pierce Hall, e voce poder& 1é-las algum dia, quando voce se familiarizar com a lingua alema. Un dia, quando eu tinha 19 anos, entrei no gabinete de meu profes sor de Mecdnica Aplicada, o Sr. F, Wittenbauer, que também era wm poeta notdvel e um escritor de pecas de teatro. Entreguei-lhe um manuscrito e pedi que lesse. Nao me conhecia, porque assisti & primeira e a filtima conferéncia de seu curso, e o manuscrito nao tinha nenhuma relag&o com a Mecanica Aplicada; era intitulado "Injustiga Social na Sociedade Moderna". Mesmo assim me recebeu com afabilidade, e me prometeu ler o manuscrito, pedin do para passar 14 novamente. Quando fui vé-lo alguns dias depois,ele discutiu pacientemente co migo os diversos par&grafos de minha tese e perguntou se eu aue~ ria me tornar um escritor. Consequentemente me apresentou a edi- tores de varias revistas literarias. Assim algunas das minhas dissertagdes foram editadas. Um ano depois, esse mesmo professor me salvou da infelicidade de ser expulso da Technische Hochschule. Eu e um amigo meu, fomos condenados a prisdo por "assaltar e molestar um policial e fomen- tar desordem na prisdo". 0 incidente que provocou nossa detencSo era to comico, que os jornais contaram o caso nas manchetes da primeira pagina, dizendo: "Passaros estranhos numa Arvore do Par~ que da Cidade", e mesmo 0 juiz nfo pode deixar de rir, quando con tamos-lhe nossa histéria, na Corte. Fomos absolvidos, mas a policia estava furiosa. Recorreram 4 uma Corte Superior e ganharam o caso. Voltamos a prisdo e nos puniram mais ainda por causa de nossa"conduta desoréeira na pris&o" por- que subornamos.o carcereiro e também fizemos de nossa estadia na prisio uma festa alegre e barulhenta.jutomaticamente o caso foi levado ao conhecimento da faculdade, e ima vez que tinhamos antecedentes de m reputagio e o nosso dossié na delegacia era bem carregado, iamos ser expulsos. Porém, o Pro~ fessor Wittenbauer virou a"corrente da maré" (como soubemos mais tarde) alertando a faculdade a respeito do seguinte: Desde a fun~ dagZo da escola somente trés alunos foram expulsos. Um deles, wicolas Tesla, que mais tarde inventou nos Estados Unidos 0 "mo- tor a indugéo" (corrente alternada) e revolucionou a técnica de alta voltagem, o segundo era Riegler, naquela época professor na Technische Hochschule, em Berlim, que foi o pioneiro no desenvol- vimento da turbina a vapor, e 0 terceiro tornou-se arquiteto de igrejas na Alemanha. Assim, ele disse, a faculdade tem a tenden- cia de despedir pessoas erradas... ja primavera de 1904, tive que me preparar para o exame final. Fe~ lizmente minhas pesquisas nos diversos campos da pura ciéncia tor~ naxam minha mente num instrumento eficiente, Tomei emprestadas as notas das conferéncias (nao haviam livros impressos), de um"co~ lega bonzinho", figuel sozinho num lugar e alguns meses mais tarde, em junho de 1904, passed na prova com meng&o honrosa. A partir do outono de 1904, tive que servir ao exército, durante um ano. Durante aquele ano, passei muitas noites de guarda, e muitos dias vagueando no quartel, ou na prisio do regimento por ofensas menores. Assim achei a oportunidade de continuar a estu- dar. Preparei uma edi¢%o em alemSo do livro.de Giekie "Bsboco no Campo da Geologia", e para variar, devorei com muito interesse o livro de Schopenhauer "O Mundo em Termos de Vontade e Idéias! Durante meu servigo militar comecei a ver claramente que n&o nas- ci para passar minha vida como engenheiro mecinico, debrugado so~ bre uma mesa de desenho. Meu avd me deu a permiss&o de passar mais um ano como estudante a fim de me dar a oportunidade de tomar uma decisao. Durante aquele ano me concentrei nas disciplinas de Geologia ¢ pu- bliquei meu primeiro "papel" profissional. ‘Tratava-se da Origem ga Estatigrafia das Plataformas (terragos) Marinhas na Styria do sul. Porém, durante minhas peregrinagées nos vales e nos campos, coletando o material para meu "bapel", comparava minhas ativida~ des as de um verme, entrando e saindo das cavidades de um pecagode queijo que ele tanto gosta. 0s elementos, ado e responsabilidade, estavam ausentes e sentia vagamente que ndo poderia me encontrar a menos que tivesse a opor tunidade de liderar e arriscar. 0 resultado disso foi que me vi- rei para o campo da exzploragao. Comecei a investigar as perspec tivas naquele campo e me. ofereceram a oportunidade de uma expedi- gio de gedlogos na Groelandia. Porém, no verfio de 1996, sofri um grave acidente, escalando as Alpes, e tiraram meu nore da lista da expedigao a Groelandia. Também o prazo de um ano que me foi dado pelo meu avo acabou. Tive que comegar a ganhar minha vida. Depois da exploragéo geografica, escolhi a Engenharia Civil, por~ que podia me proporcionar varias oportunidades de ag&o, e podia também utilizar e ampliar meus conhecimentos de Geologia, para a qual tinha aéquirido um interesse profundo e duradouro. Os pardgrafos seguintes (omitidos) da carta, descrevem os primei- ros empregos de Terzaghi, os quais foram bem documentados por Ca~ sagrande na sua " Pratica" Teoria A vida na cidade Régia e em S80 Pestesburgo era deliciosa. mao haviam nuvens no céu, exceto o fato de ter uma vida muito f&cil. Wo havia nenhum desafio.em vista. Portanto tive que inventar um, e isso era facil. Tinha 34 percebido que meu campo favorito de atividade, Engenharia de Terremotos e Fundagdes, era muito a~ trasado comparado a outros ramos da Engenharia Civil, e senti um desejo crescente e irresist{vel de contribuir de levant&-lo a um nivel superior. Sabia que isto precisaria de uma pesquisa exaus— tiva das causas dos erros de apreciago que eram responsaveis pe~ los nossos clculos incorretos e nossos fracassos. Naquele tempo, o “United States Reclamation Service" estava cons~ truindo grandes represas, em condigdes diversas, na parte Oeste dos Estados Unidos. Os canteiros de obras desta organizagdo eran laboratérios, nos quais experiéncias e pesquisas em grande escala, que eram de minha competéncia, estavam sendo feitas, Onde poderia ahcar uma oportunidade melhor para realisar meus testes ? Movido por estas idéias, deixei meu emprego em Sdo Petesburgo, em dezembro de 1911. Consegui meu doutorado em Graz fazendo minha tese baseada num caso gue tinha solucionado durante minhas ativsdades profissionais em So Petesburgqo, e em janeiro de 1912 me pus a caminho dos Estados Unidos. Nos Estados Unidos continuei minha tarefa com tenacidade e teimo- sia. Depois de um ano de pescuisas e de observagao na obra do ceste, fiquei sen dinheiro e fui a Portland, Oregon, para reabas tecer meus fundos com ocunacdes mais lucrativas, comecanéo como perfurador na construcdo das comportas Cecil, no Rio Columbia. Ao mesmo tempo, comecei a entender que o resultado de um ano de tra~ balho exaustivo, era praticamente nulo. Ndo valeria a pena men- clona-lo. Tornou-se dbvio que tinha secuido o caminho errado. Profundamente abatido, volted a Europa em dezembro de 1913, e re~ solvi abandonar a luta e tentar ganhar minha vida dali em diante praticando a engenharia, seguindo as linhas convencionais. Na viagem de volta, escrevi um estudo do tipo "didlogo} sobre mi~ nhas reagdes de experiéncia durante a estada.. nos Estados Unidos. Enguanto estava ainda tratando da publicagao de meu manuscrito neira guerra com © editor que tencionava publicé-lo, estorou a p fmndial, Como eu era oficial de reserva fui alistado e presen~ cied as .batalhas que se travavam na Serbia, os horrores, bruta~ lidades e estupidez da guerra, como também os atos de heroismo, de devocio e de sacrificio dos soldados. 0 cerco de Belgrado e sua queda no dia 9 de outubro de 1916. Durante tres dias e tres noites a artilharia pesada cuspia fogo e ago e preparou o caminho para o assalto final. Depois da tomada de Belgrado, as operacoes na frente de Servia atolaram-se e pedi minha transferéncia para a acrendutica. Em maio de 1916 minha filha Vera nascen e aleuns meses depois resolvi casar com a mie dela. Sabia que isso seria uma experiéncia ousada mas queria fazer tudo que pudesse para pro porcionar um lar 4 erianca. Os paragrafos que se seguem (omitidos) descrevem as circunstan- cias que fizeram Terzaghi ir a Constantinopla) . km Constantinopla tive muito tempo de lazer, e enquanto preparava minha conferéncia (em francés) percebia gradativamente cue meus esforgos nos Estados Unidos tinham fracassado. A maioria de nos~ sas estruturas so baseadas numa acumulagdo de diversos tipos de materiais. “a nossa nomenclatura e nos nossos cortes verticaisde solo, estes materiais sio descritos coro "areia grossa", “areja fina","barro macio", etc... Quando tentava fazer uma correlagio de causa a efeito nos Estados Unidos, deixava de levar em conside~ raglo cuc cada uma destas palavras (denominagées) se aplicavan a ““dnateriais com propricdades muito diferentes. Por consecuinte, nenhum relacionamente definido entre as definigdes de sub=solo e © comportamento das estruturas podia ser descoherto.. A fim de elimin de descrever os solos, baseado em valores numéricos, cada uma re~ x as incertesas do m&todo, seria necessdrio achar um meio presentando uma propriedade significante da propriedade do material que nfo seja baseado nas aparencias do material. Isto parece sil mples, € pensei que os métodos adeauados poderiam ser desenvolvidos por meio de experiéncias sistemiticas em um ou dois anos. N&o pude prever que levaria 7 anos de trabalho inten~ so @ que os fatos revelados pelas experiéncias me levariam além dos conhecimentos que possuiamos naquele tempo. Estabeleci-me numa sala do Edificio de Nhgenharia, nas colinas que davam sohre 0 Bésforo. Juntei a matéria prima que tinha acha do no depésito da Universidade, que visitava frequentemente. ogo minha sala ficou cheia de instrumentos. Testes cue precisavam de uma fiscalizagdo continua eram trazidos no meu quarto de dormir, # era obrigado a regular meu despeirtador para me acordar de 3 em 3 horas, a fim de fazer as anotagdes, lendo os dados nos instru- mentos. Dois anos apés entrar na Universidade, o fisico de 14, Dr. Post, me disse: "Se vocé continuar trabalhando desse jeito, teremos de enterar-lhe aqui no Bésforo, antes de chegar a 50 anos de idade”. Eu respondi: "EZ dai? Antes de completar os cinquenta anos, pos- so realizar bastante". E foi assim. Em 1925, depois de 7 anos de experiéncias feitas com paciencia, e quando tinha 42 anos de idade, publiquei meu livro "Erdbaumchanik' gue revolucionou wm ramo importante da Engenharia Civil. Minha situacao financeira era mais haixa que aquela de 1911, quando ti- nha deixado a Russia, mas tinha permanecide fiel As minhas convic gées, e tinha realizado a missio que a natureza ne tinha designa~ do, apesar de tudo estar contra im. Alguns meses depois da vu-blicagao de meu livro, fui. aos Estados Unidos e me estabeleci no MIT, na Universidade ée Cambridge, que era o mais importante la~ horatério de Mecincia de Rochas do continente americano. 0 desen volvimento subscquente ficara vivo na hist6ria da Engenharia Civil. 0 resultado foi a fundagdo da “Sociedade Internacional de Meca- nica dos Solos e Engenharia de Fundagdes", em Canbriége, Massachu_ setts, em junho ée 1936 (0 lugar e o ano de seu nascirento) ¢a gual eu ainda sou o Presidente. A Sociedade tem mais de 1000 sé~ cios nos cinco continentes, todos eles empenhados em clarear os pontos escuros no mapa cru do campo tragado por mim em 1925. A transigao do estado de tateamento até as luzes do progresso cons ciente para uma realizacdo prépria, varia de individuo para indi~- viduo. Alguns nascem cientes da missdéo que eles tem que cumprir nesta vida, e se dirigem para seu objetivo com o instinto infali- vel dos sonambulos. Rafael e Mozart foram exemplos vivos disso. Anbos morreram muito jovens, mas nao perderam seu tempo. Outros punham fim a sua confusdo e indecis&o com uma finica manifestagdo de forga de vontade. Bismark pertencia aquela categoria, como & @escrito no seu livro "Gedanken und Grimerungen"... Meu perfodo de transigéo, foi mais complicado. mas nao me levou aos"brasées de uma igreja". Sempre considerava a aceitag&o de um dogma como sendo uma variedade muito censuravel de fugir das obrigagdes. Nés somos mortais e devemos ter a coragem de enfren- tar este fato. Inspirei~me muito lendo o Fausto de Goethe. Quan- do voce aprender alemao, deve ser familiarizar-se com esta obra prima de um grande autor, pensador e humanista. © anseio insa~ tisfeito por uma resposta a cerca das filtimas perguntas, leva Fausto As garras de Mefistéfeles, mas mesmo Sat& nao pode dar~lhe a paz.e a felicidadé que ele estava procurando. Finalmente,no fim de sua vida, ele experimentou, o que considerava uma suprema satisfagao, quando num momento de entusiasmo, esqueceu sua prépria pessoa, fazendo um grande trabalho de beneficio. Bernard Shaw expressou o mesmo pensamento num plano inferior. Q) do Lady Cecily perguntou ao Capitdo Brassbound se ele era feliz, e ele respondeu :"D& a um homem uma boa safide e um emprego cue ele goste e nunca se importe de saber se ele é feliz ou nao". Isto 6 como Goethe disse: "der weisheit - letzter schluss" .( ( ‘ ( ( ( ( ( fl Hada pode nos dar uma satisfagiio mais profunda e maior felicida~ @e do que o grande esforgo de dar a luz a alguma coisa que ainda ultrapassanos a fronteixa estrei- nfo nasceu. Fazendo isso, nés ta de nossa, personalidade e assim crescemos. © sentido da vida é a prépria vida. Wao existe atalho para conseguir isto, e se yoo herdou um pouco de minha disposig&o, vocé tera um longo ca~ Mas no se preocupe, qualquer dia, mais cedo minho pela frent ou mais tarde, voce vera a luz - a sua luz ~ e daf em diante sua amena...- jornada sera m Espero aue esta ep{stola preencha em parte a lacuna que deixei na sua mente, nunca contando a voc muita coisa de minha vida. Nao sou muito hom em fazer confidencias - contrariando as aparéncias~ porque 14 no fundo de mim mesmo existem ainda correntes e contra~ correntes muito fortes. Com amor,VRONSKY ~ 19395 from Karl ‘rerzaghi to his s Dear Skippex: Your letter of February 20 to your mother contains the entzy, "I wish I could be a little more intelligible, but I am mysclf in a very confused and uncertain state, searching for some real ‘truth’, so could hardly ive a cogent description or explanation of my present state of mind." his entxy reminded me vivdly of my own college days. If I had been asked, in those days, to describe my state of mind, I would have made a similar confession. wherefore I, believe it may be comfor something about my own adolescent txibulations and about ting to you to learn what became of them as the years went on. You mentioned to me once, in a conversation, that you knew almost nothing about my life. dudging from your present state of mind, this may be the appropriate time and occassion to make up for my reticence. mn 1900, at the age of 17 I graduated from the = * Realschule, which corresponds to high school. My father ha@ die@ ten years earlier and my guardian insisted that T should study engineering because he considered it a profession with a great future. I had only the choice between. the different branches of engineering, and much to his disappointment I selected Mechanical Engineering, because it appeared to me more rational than the other branches. In those days, engineering schools had no room for "Humanities". Hven the history of engineering received no attention and all the courses were strictly professional, whereas I was possessed by the burningdesixe to become what you call a "really thinking" person. ‘this desire dominated my thoughts and actions s which followed. In my pursuit during the four yea % was gxéatly helped by the fact that we-were not com pelled to attend the lectures. We got our diploma provided we passed oux examinations, and thexe were only two compulsory ones, one at the end of the second and the other one at the end of the fourth year. Further~ more we wexe permitted to enroll at the University whatever courses we pleased. aking full advantage of these “academic Liberties" during the four years of my training, I never studied more than the first and the last lecture in any one of my courses in engineering. In exchange I branched out in many other directions. At the University I attended in succession courses on 19th century Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Experimental Psychology, History of Art, General Geology, Petrography, Paleontology, Theoretical Astronomy, and even Plant Physiology as the spirit moved But that was not enough. With an older friend of mine, a PhD who would of been a decoration to Greenwich Village, I studied and dissected Kant’ s. gether in the coffee house until three or four o'clock Critique of Pure Reason. Very often we sat to~ in the morning exchanging ideas about our favorite subjects, which included Ibsen's and Strindberg's plays, the essays of Emerson and of Thomas Carlyle, Das Kapital by Marx and Henry George's Progre: Poverty. The stream of assorted information which rushed nto my system produced spells of unbearable mental indigestion, because it did not satisfy my craving foran answer to the ultimate’ and crucial question: what is the meaning of our Life? ‘Therefore the periods of frantic ng which I did- nothing sted : ‘sometimes for weeks at a stretch. I became a frequent search alternated with others duri but drinking, rioting, and dueling. These periods customer at the pawn shops, debts accumulated and more than once I landed at police headquarter: of disorderly conduct. In those days, in academic circles, such deportment as a result was considered a legitimate and laudable manifestation of yourthful exuberance, but it claimed many victims and its effects on the individuals engaged in these manifes- " tations was unpredictable... Since nobody in my family, except for my sister, had any understanding of the turbulent state of my mind, I potired my feelings into diaries, which received with equal patience my outbursts of exuberance and of des~ pondency and their contents relfect the ups.and downs in my struggle for enlightenment. These diaries are stacked tp on one of the shelves in my office at Peirce Hall, and some day, when you can read German, you may have a look at them. ‘ One day, when I was 19, I stepped into the’ office of my professor of Applied Mechanics, F. Wittenbauer, who was also a noted poet and playwright. 1 handed him a manuscript and asked him to read it. He did not know me, because I had attended only the first and last lectyre in his course and the manuscript had nothing to do with Applied Mechanics; its title was “Social Injustice in Modern Society." Nevertheless he received me graciously, promised to read the manuscript and asked. me to come again. Z called on him a few days later and he discussed with me very patiently the topics of my thesis and asked mewhat 1 would think about becoming a writer. Subsequently he introduced me to the editors of various literary periodicals. ‘therefore some of my early cssays appearca in print. One year later the same professor saved me from the fate of being expelled from the Technische Hochschule. 1 and a fraternity brother of mine had received a jail sentence on account of having "assaulted and abused" a policeman and subsequent disorderly conduct in jail. the incident which led to our arrest was so funny that the newspapers told it to their readers on the front page under headlines such as “Strange Birds In A.Tree In the City Park" and even the judge could not help chuckling when we told the story in court. We were acquitted, but the police department was furious. ‘They appealed to a higher court and won the case. We were turned into jail and xre- ceived additional punishment on account of "disorderly “jail", because we had bribed the jailer and conduct in j turned our sojurn into a noisy and jolly party. As a matter of course, the case was brought to the attention of the faculty, and since we already had a bad reputation and a rather voluminous police record the consensus was that we were right for expulsion. However, Professor Wittenbauer turned the tide (as I learned afterwards) by calling the faculty's attention to the following fact. Since the school was founded, only three students had been expelled. One of them was Nicola Tesla, who later went to the USA and invented the induction (alternating current) motor and revolu- tionized high voltage technique. The second was Riegler, at that time professor at the Technische Hochschule in Berlin, who pioneered the development of the steam turbine ana the third one became a leading church architect inGexmany. Menee, he said, the faculty seems to have the knack of expelling the wrong people. In, the spring of 1904-1 had to start preparing my-‘ self for the final examination. Fortunately strenuous pursuits in diverse fileds of pure science had forged my brain into an efficien 001. I borrowed the lecture notes (there were no text books) from a "good boy" among my colleagues, went with the notes into solitary confine- ment and a few months later, in June 1904, I passed the examination with honors. . Starting in ‘the Fall of 1904 1 had to serve a year in the Army. During this year I had to spend many nights on Watch Duty and many days loafing inthe barracks or, for minor offences, in the regiinent's jail. This gave me an opportunity to continu my studies. I prepared a German edition of A. Giekie's Outlines of 1d_Geology and, as’ an antidote, I absorbed with great interest 1a Schopenhauer's Wo ss Will and 3 a During my military service it became increasingly clear to me that I was not born to Spend my life as a Mechanical Engineer at a drafting board. In order to give me a chance to make up my mind, my grandfather gave me permission to spend one more year as a student. During this year I concentrated on geological disciplines and’I published my first professional paper. It dealt with the origin and the stratigraphy of the marine terraces in Southern Styria. However, while I roamed through the valleys and across the fields, collecting the material for my paper, my activities reminded me more and more of those of a worm engaged in exploring the cavities in the » piece of cheese on which he thrives. the elements of action and responsibility were absent and I £elt vaguelythat I cannot be myself wnless I have, dpportunitics to lead and to take chances. As_a result my attention turned to tho £idld of exploration. I began investigating the prospects in this field and was offered an opportunity to participate as a geologist in an expedition across Greenland. However, in the summer of 1906 I was severely injured in a mountain climbing accident in thé Alps, my hame was crossed off the list for the Greenland expedition and my year of grace was over. I had to start earning my living. After geographic exploration my next choice was Civil Engineering because it promised to provide me . with opportunities for action and also for utilizing and broadening my knowledge .in Gedlogy for which I had aquired a deep and lasting interest. = : (the newt several paragraphs (deleted) of the letter describe Tersaght's early jobs, which have been welt ‘documented by Casagrande in From Theory to Practice.) Life in Riga and St. Petersburg was aélightful. _ ‘there was no cloud on the sky, except for the fact that life was too easy. There was no compelling challenge ‘in sight. ‘Therefore I had to invent one, and that was ‘easy. TI had already noticed that my favorite field of activities, Earthwork and Foundation Engineering, was’ “far behind the other branches of Civil Engineering and “the desixe grew, and finally became irresistible, to ‘contribute my share to raising it to higher level.. I xealized that this could only be done by a painstaking ‘{nvestigation of the causes of the errors in our_judgment, ‘which were responsible for our miscalculations and failures. : At that time the United States Reclamation Service Was engaged in the construction of large dams under Widely diverse conditions in the western United states. The construction camps of this organization were laboratoriesin which full scale experiments in my field were béing carricd out. Where could I find a better opportuni to pexform my analys. : Undex the spell of this thought I left my employers in St. Petersburg in Decembér 1911, made my Doctorate in Graz on the basis of a thesis dealing with the solution of a problem I encountered in my professional activities in St. Petersburg and at the end of ganvary 1912 I was on my way to the United States. In the United States T pursited my self-imposed task with stubborn tenacity. After one year of inquiries and observation in the construction camps of the West I was broke and went to.Portland, Oregon, to replenish my funds by more profitable occupations, starting as a ariller at the construction of the Cecils Locks on the Columbia River. At the same time I began to realize that the net result of a year of hard labor was practically nil. It was not even, worth while publishing it. Tt became obvious that I had entered and followed a blind alley. Deeply discouraged, I returned in December 1913 to Europe, resolved to give up the struggle and to earn henceforth my living by practicing engineering along conventional lines. On my return trip I composed a treatise, in the form of a dialogue, dealing with my xeactions to what I had seen and experienced during my sojourn. in the United States. While I was still in correspondence with the pub- lisher who had the intention of printing my manuscript, the first World War broke out. Since I was a reserve officer I joined the Army and witnessed the Serbian front, the horrors, brutalities and stupidities of warfare, as well as the acts of heroism, devotion andself sacrifice which go with it. At the front all in- hibitions evaporate. The siege of Belgrade and the capture of the city on October $, 1916, were spectacular military events that I shall never forget. For three days and nights the heavy guns sputtered fire and steel ana paved the way for the final assault. : After the capture of Belgrade, operations at the Serbian front bogged down, whereupon I applied for transfer to and a few months later I. decided to marry her mother. 1 the Air Force. In May 1916 my daughter Vera was boxn knew it was a daring experiment, but I wanted to do my best to provide the child with a home. . (The next several paragraphs (deleted) describe the conditions under which Persaght vent to Constantinople.) In Constantinople I had time and leisure, and while preparing my lecture notes (in French) I gradually realized why my efforts in the United States had failed. Most of, our” structures rest on an accumulation of different kinds of materials. In our records and soil profiles, these materials are described by words such as "coarse sand," “fine sand," "soft clay" and the like. While trying to correlate cause and effect in the United States I had failed to consider that each one of these words applies to materials with widely different physical properties. As a consequence no defini e relationships between the records of the recorded subsoil conditions and the performance of the structures could be discovered. In order to e. minate the uncertainties involved in the procedure it is necessary to find ways and means of describing the soils on the basis of numerical values, each of which represents a significant property of the material and not on the basis of what the material looks Like.That seems simple aha I thought that adequate pro- cedures could be developed by systematic experimentation in one or two years, 1 aid not suspect that the inves- tigations would require seven years of hard labor and thatthe facts disclosed by the experiments would carry me far beyond the boundaries of the knowledge in our posession at that time. I established myself in a room of the Engineering Building, on the hill overlooking the Bosporus. I collec d much of the raw materials for my equipment on the ‘college dump, where I could be seen very often. Soon my office was cluttered with apparatus. Tests which requixed a continous record were carried out in my bedroom and I had my alarm clock set to wake me once every three hours to make readings. Two years after I had entered the college, the college physician, Dr. Post, said to me: "If you go on working ‘as you do we shall bury, you here, on the Bosporus, before you are fifty," 3 replied, "So what? Before I am fifty I can accomplish quite a lot," and I aid. In’ 1925, after seven-years of patient experimenta- tion and at the age of 42, I published the book "srdbaumechanik" which revolutionized an important branch of Civil Engineering. My incorie was lower than it was in 1911, when I left Russia, but I had. remained true to myself and I had fulfilled the mission which nature had assigned to me in spite of the fact that all the odds were against it. A few months after my book was pub- lished I left for the United states and established at Mrv in Cambridge the first Soil Mechanics laboratory on . :“for an answer to the ul -10- the American continent. ‘The subsequent developments will live on in the history of Civil Engineering. hey cul~ ninated in the foundation of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering in Cambridge, Wassachusetts, June 1936 (the place and year of your bixth) of which I am still the president. the Society bas more than a thousand members on five continents, all of whom are engaged like myself in illuminating the blank spots on the crude map of the field, which I had traced in 1925. : : . The transition from the state of groping towards the light to conscious progress toward self-fulfillment is different for different individuals. A few are born with’ a clear realization of their mission in life and proceed towards their goal with the unfailing instinct of somnambulists. Rafael and Mozart are examples. Both died very young but no time was wasted. Others terminate theix period of confusion and indecision with a single act of wi Bismark belongs in this category, as described in his "Gedanken und Grimerungen" ""My period of transition was much more involved and did not lead me into the arms of a church: I always ‘considered acceptance of a dogma a rather objectionable Yarlety of escapism. We are mortals and should have the ation ‘eourage to face this fact. I derived great inspi from reading Goethe's Faust. Once you know German you rshould get acquainted with this masterpiece of a_great writer, thinker and humanist. The unsatisfied craving ate questions drives Fatist into @ snares of Mephistopheles, but even Satan could not providé him with the peace and happiness he was lookingelle for. Finally, towards the end of his life, he experionced what he considered supreme satisfaction, when he forgot himself in enthusiasm for a great and beneficial work. Bernaxd Shaw expressed this, same thought on a lower plane. When Lady Cecily asked Captain Rrasshound whether he was happy, the captain replied, "Give a man good: health and a job he likes, he doesn't give a damn about whether he is happy or not." "“Phis as - as Goethe put it -~ “der weisheit letzter schluss." Nothing can give us deeper’ satis- faction and greater happiness than the strenuous process of giving bixth to something unborn. in doing “it we transcend the narrow limits of our personality and expand. The meaning of life is life itself. There is no short~ cut to $éAlizihg this fact, and if you have inherited some of my disposition, you shall have a long road to travel. But don't worry. Sooner or later you will see the’ Light =*"your “light will be siioother. and from then on the sailing hope that this epistle will close part of the gap T left in your mind by never. telling you much about my life. I am not very good a opening up ~~ contrary to appearances ~~ because deeper down there are-still many fierce currents and eddies. Lovingly yours,