The World Trade Center: Work of genius, undone by the unthinkable
09/10/11 New Jersey Star-Ledger — With a career spanning five decades, UC Berkeley alumnus Leslie Robertson was the lead structural engineer of the World Trade Center, responsible for conceiving and executing the design and overseeing the work of engineers, draftsmen and technicians that allowed the towers to rise higher than any building before them. Ten years after the buildings were lost, he quietly carries with him an unresolved anguish. "I was ready to pack my bags, not because I felt I let anybody down, but simply due to the suffering associated with my work," he said. But Berkeley Engineering professor Robert Bea, one of the country's leading forensic engineers, describes Robertson's design as excellent.