Failed Bridges

Preface to the English edition 2010

The Hispanic-American poet and philosopher George Santayana warned in his book The Life

of Reason

, published in 1906, that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to

repeat it.” This is also true for the field of bridge construction.





In the light of warnings such as this and innumerable incidents of bridge failure in the last

10 years, Ernst & Sohn resolved to publish a 2nd updated edition of my book

Versagen von

Bauwerken – Ursachen, Lehren. Band 1: Bru¨ cken

(Failure of Structures Causes and Lessons.

Volume 1: Bridges). Too many bridges and falseworks failed in this one decade, too

many people were killed and injured all over the world. This is why the present edition is now

published in English. Even as I was preparing this preface in December 2009, news broke of

yet another disaster, this time a bridge being built over the river Chambai in western India.

Over 40 construction workers lost their lives.


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