What was it like to work with a young professor,possessed with radically new ideas on the fatigue crackpropagation behavior of structural alloys? It was exciting andwonderful for two reasons: the opportunity to work with abudding "master"; and the joy of interaction with an advisorwho strove to maximize his student's professional career. Thispaper describes the many interactions between student andmentor, fellow consultant, fellow teacher, and dear friend, thatnow span a period of more than 33 years The early years werecharacterized by a series of personal and intellectualchallenges, that focused on assessments of one's capabilitiesand personal limits, and an examination of one's technicalobjectives. It will be shown how each challenge has defined theframework form my professional career.The early post-graduate years were highlighted bycollaborative failure analyses of assorted structuralcomponents, including the famous 1969 failure analysis of theF-111 wing box. Simultaneous participation in fracturemechanics short courses broadened my technical training andprepared me for my teaching and research career at LehighUniversity. The focus of my text books and my researchinterests will be examined in the context of my training withPaul Paris. Finally, a secret involving Paul Paris and one ofmy earlier failure analyses will be revealed.
展开▼
