Page 135 - MY STORY

TEACHING FRACTURE MECHANICS

My boss, Joe W, never lost his need to learn, even as

Director of R&D. I personally became very involved in
the mechanisms, mathematics, and testing of materials to

determine their resistance to fracture from very sharp,
crack-like defects. The technology was called “Fracture
Mechanics” and Joe knew very little about how to
effectively make use of that technology even though my

group had pioneered its use in the company.

So Joe cut a deal with me. The deal was that two or three
times a week I would take one hour for lunch, Joe would
buy my lunch, and in return, I would teach him all I knew

about Fracture Mechanics until he felt comfortable with
his personal knowledge of the subject. Having worked
with Joe for so many years raised a serious concern in my

mind because I knew what it would take to satisfy Joe’s
intellectual curiosity.

As an underling my choices were nil and our daily
lunches went on for almost a month when Joe finally
released me from that commitment. For any of you that

knew of Joe’s need “to understand everything” about a
subject you might realize these sessions made me dig