...And Then I Met the Getty Kouros (ePub)

Jack Njdeh Yaghoubian calls his memoir ...And Then I Met The Getty Kouros, the title emblematic of an extraordinary career path leading to his showing up at the Getty Museum one day and determining that the antiquities were in danger in the event of an earthquake. The Getty Kouros Greek statue stood upright for the first time in 2,500 years without visible support thanks to an innovative seismic base isolation system invented by Yaghoubian. It s only one of the many accomplishments in the extraordinary career of Yaghoubian, the son of Armenian Genocide survivors who has made a huge impact on the world of engineering in the United States and around the world. ...And Then I Met The Getty Kouros is an Iranian-Armenian-American engineer s odyssey, the story of one life with three rich and distinct cultures as an omnipresent backdrop. The memoir touches on many personal as well as professional subjects: growing up in the Armenian minority in Iran during the 50s, the challenges of adapting to student life in America, the ways in which careers are shaped, playing a role in innovative engineering initiatives, and what it means to be an informed citizen in one s adopted country. Yaghoubian was, he says, born to be an engineer and his memoir chronicles a journey of a life fulfilled. In the 60s, just out of college, he was instrumental in convincing the construction team for the landmark California Bank headquarters in San Francisco to utilize the first slurry trench systems in the United States. He went on to design engineering solutions for the largest geotech firms in the world. Closely working with giants such as Dr. Charles Richter, the inventor of world famous earthquake Richter Scale, Yaghoubian became increasingly specialized in earthquake engineering as a critical component of environmental sciences. ...And Then I Met The Getty Kouros is not without controversy. Yaghoubian writes about how he came face-to-face with the fiercely competitive, darker side of the art world when credit for the ground-breaking technology he had developed to help works of art like the Getty Kouros was being taken on all sides. Parallel with the Getty Museum, Yaghoubian was also involved with the design and construction of the renowned Blackhawk vintage cars museum in California. The challenge facing the construction of Blackhawk Museum had its own hair-raising aspects detailed in the book. Yaghoubian s story will resonate with many readers. The engineering aspects are detailed, informative and relevant, the history significant, and the immigrant experience universal. The story will also resonate with California readers, since so much of Yaghoubian s work is based in the Golden State and is related to earthquake engineering. This book is not a typical memoir of being trapped between two countries; rather, it is a celebration of culture and history and moving seamlessly between two contrasting worlds. Ultimately ...And Then I Met The Getty Kouros is a story of a young man with a dream, forever holding on to the old while establishing new roots and pioneering ground-breaking concepts in his chosen career.