Building Ruth’s House

The geotechnical world stood on the cusp of dramatic change in 1923. In Turkey, Robert College engineering lecturer Karl Terzaghi was finishing five years of pioneering geotechnical research that he would soon publish in the book Erdbaumechanik auf Bodenphysikalischer Grundlage (Earthwork Mechanics Based on Soil Physics). In Japan, the imperial government commissioned extensive technical studies following the MW 8.0 Great Kanto Earthquake in early September. The studies were of little solace to those close to the quake’s 140,000 victims, but eventually led to key seismological advances that saved countless lives during subsequent earthquakes.