Leslie E. Robertson

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox engineer Leslie Earl Robertson (February 12, 1928 – February 11, 2021) was an American engineer. He was the lead structural engineer of the Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center in New York City,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and served as structural engineer on numerous other projects, including the U.S. Steel Tower in Pittsburgh, Shanghai World Financial Center, and the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong.

Early life and education

Robertson was born on February 12, 1928, in Manhattan Beach, California to Tinabel (née Grantham) and Garnet Robertson.<ref name="NYT"/> His mother was a homemaker, while his father worked assorted jobs.<ref name="NYT"/> His parents divorced when he was a child and he was brought up by his father's second wife, Zelda (née Ziegel).<ref name="NYT"/> He was briefly enlisted in the navy in 1945, at the age of 17. However, he did not enter active duty.<ref name="NYT"/>

He studied civil engineering at University of California, Berkeley and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1952.<ref name="NYT"/>

Career

Robertson's engineering career began in 1952, when he joined Kaiser Engineering. He worked as a mathematician, structural engineer, and electrical engineer during this time. He was also part of the investigation team studying the collapse of an offshore drilling platform.<ref name="NYT"/> He later went on a road trip and ran out of funds in Seattle, where he then joined the Seattle-based structural and civil engineering firm Worthington and Skilling in 1958.<ref name="NYT"/>

When Seattle-born American architect Minoru Yamasaki won the competition to design the World Trade Center, Robertson and his firm Worthington, Skilling, Helle, and Jackson (WSHJ) got the engineering contract.<ref name="NYT"/> Designed between 1966 and 1971, this was the firm's and Robertson's first high rise construction.<ref name="Steel">Template:Cite book</ref> His interactions with Yamasaki led to the conceptualization of the tube design for the buildings with exterior columns that were two feet apart along the building's height, specifically designed to provide a sense of enclosure for people in the building.<ref name="NYT" /> This also meant that, unlike most skyscrapers of the time that were supported by concrete or steel frames with columns interrupting the interiors, the WTC design permitted column-free interiors, with the weight being handled by the exterior columns and the steel and concrete cores. Steel trusses supported the floors and connect exterior columns and the central cores.<ref name="NYT"/>

In 1967 Robertson was made a partner in WSHJ, which was renamed Skilling, Helle, Christiansen, Robertson. The firm split its operations in 1982, with Robertson renaming the east coast operations Leslie E. Robertson Associates RLLP.<ref>Leadership and Management in Engineering magazine. Volume 9, Issue 1, Engineering Legends pp. 46–50 (January 2009)</ref> Robertson would retire from the partnership in 1994, but would continue to work for the firm on projects until 2012.<ref name="NYT"/>

In addition to the World Trade Center, he was involved in structural engineering and design for other skyscrapers, including the U.S. Steel Headquarters in Pittsburgh, the Shanghai World Financial Center, and the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong designed by the Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei, and Puerta de Europa in Madrid.<ref name="NYT"/><ref name="Cam"/> Further, Robertson engineered the building of museums in Seattle, Portland, Maine, and Berlin in addition to theaters and bridges.<ref name="Cam"/> Robertson structurally engineered the installation of American sculptor Richard Serra's works.<ref name="NYT"/> He also helped coordinate the 1978 repair of New York City's Citigroup Center, which had been built with bolted joints that placed it in serious danger of collapse during a high wind.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Since the collapse of the World Trade Center in 2001, debates about the safety of rent-space-maximized designs have engaged the building professions, but the consensus among architects and engineers is that the World Trade Center actually withstood the impact of the plane with enough time to allow many thousands of occupants to evacuate safely.<ref name="NYT"/><ref name="FEMA">Template:Cite web</ref> Robertson's firm later participated in the development of a database of basic structural information for the towers of the World Trade Center (WTC1 and 2) for NIST and FEMA,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and to record the undocumented structural changes that had been made to the buildings after construction began. His firm also stayed for the structural engineering of the 4 World Trade Center building which came up at the same complex.<ref name="NYT"/>

• Selected works by Robertson
• 
  World Trade Center, Manhattan, New York City
• 
  Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai
• 
  Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong
• 
  Puerta de Europa, Madrid
• 
  U.S. Steel Tower, Pittsburgh

Personal life

Robertson was married to Elizabeth Zublin and later to Sharon Hibino, with both marriages ending in divorce.<ref name = NYT/> In 1982 he married SawTeen See, a structural engineer who also has served as managing partner of their architectural engineering practice, Leslie E. Robertson Associates (LERA), now called See Robertson Structural Engineers, LLC.<ref name="MITArch">Template:Cite web</ref>

Robertson died from multiple myeloma at his home in San Mateo, California, on February 11, 2021, the day before his 93rd birthday.<ref name="NYT">Template:Cite news</ref>

Books

• Template:Cite book

Awards

• 1975 Member of the National Academy of Engineering for "contributions in the design of tall buildings and development and application of wind-engineering principles to tall-building design for assurance of safety and comfort of the occupants"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1986 Honorary degree, Doctor of Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute<ref name="Cam">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1989 Honorary degree, Doctor of Science, University of Western Ontario<ref name="Cam"/>
• 1989 Construction's Man of the Year (now known as the Award of Excellence) by the Engineering News-Record for his work developing efficient structural systems and championing wind engineering research<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
• 1991 Honorary degree, Doctor of Engineering, Lehigh University
• 1993 Mayors Award for Excellence in Science and Technology for contributions to the design of the World Trade Center. World Trade Center Individual Service Medal for contributions to the reconstruction of the World Trade Center following the 1993 bombing.<ref name="Cam"/>
• 1993 Gengo Matsui Prize of Japan<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2002 Henry C. Turner Prize for Innovation in Construction Technology from the National Building Museum<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2003 Honorary degree, Doctor of Engineering, University of Notre Dame<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2003 ASCE OPAL Award for lifetime contributions to design<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2004 IStructE Gold Medal of the Institution of Structural Engineers<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2004 The Fazlur Khan Lifetime Achievement Medal from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat for leadership in Structural Design<ref name=CTBUH>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2006 Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2008 Elevated to National Honor Member of Chi Epsilon national civil engineering honor society<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2011 International Award of Merit in Structural Engineering from the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2012 John Fritz Medal from the American Association of Engineering Societies<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2015 International Civil Engineering Award from the José Entrecanales Ibarra Foundation<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Christopher O. Ward

External links

• Leslie Earl Robertson, 1928–2021 on the website of Leslie E. Robertson Associates
• "The Tower Builder", The New Yorker, November 19, 2001