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OBITUARY
Alan W. Bishop1920-1988Professor Alan Bishop died suddenly at
his homein Whitstable, on 30 June 1988, while recoveringfrom major
cardiac surgery. He will be remem-bered especially for his work on
embank mentdams and for his flair in instrument design whichenabled
him to become perhaps the foremostexperimentalist of his time.
Alan Wilfred Bishop was born a t Whitstableon 27 May 1920. He
was educated at KingsCollege S chool, W imbledon, and at the
Uni-versity of Cam bridge, where he was a seniorscholar at Emm
anuel College and took theMec hanical Sciences T ripos in 194 2.
His firstappointment was as an engineer with the Metro-politan Wa
ter Board. At that time, the designs forthe Walto n Reservoir were
being reassessed in thelight of the experience gained from studies
intothe causes of failure of the Chingford dam. T hesestudies were
conducted at the Building ResearchStation, and Alan Bishop was
seconded to workthere w ith the soils group. While at the BRS,
hedesigned and built his own equipment for testingfoundation soils,
and for taking soil samples. Thisearly work typified the approach
used by Bishop,in that h e always insisted that the best
possiblesoil test data should be used in any analysis. Ifthe appara
tus available could not give the qualityof data he required then he
simply devised andbuilt equipment that would. U sually the
appar-atus produced was so much better th an thatcurrently
available that the commercial manufac-turers switched to his
designs.
Alan Bishop was equally at home with analyti-cal studies and,
combining this with his practicalability, he was the obvious choice
as the firstmemb er of the soils team Professor Skem pton setup at
Imperial College. Bishop moved to take upan appointment as an
assistant lecturer inOctober 1946. At Imperial College he
continuedto design and develop new soils test and sam
plingequipment, but now the equipmen t was used tostudy fundame
ntal properties of soil behaviour aswell as to obtain results
required for engineeringproblems. Theory and practice, w elded
togetherby continually checking one against the other:this was the
formula used so successfully byBishop.
Academ ic distinctions followed-promoted tolecturer in 1947, PhD
in 1952, Reader and DS c in1957, Professor of Soil Mechanics in
1965.Hono urs were also conferred by the profession inrecognition
of his contributions. Premium s and
prizes were awarde d by the Institution of CivilEngineers and
the British Geotechnical Society.
Alan Bishops first experience in soil mechanicswas with earth
retaining structures, and he usedthis branch of study as a vehicle
for his researchwork.
Because of his deep understanding of soilbehaviour, Bishop w as
always in demand and hisadvice was sought by many firms of
consultingengineers. He was also asked to investigate thecauses of
engineering failures, perhaps the mostnotable being that of Aberfan
in October 196 6.Bishop led the team of investigators at the
tri-bunal and the outcome was to have a profoundeffect on the
mining industry in terms of thestatutory provisions with regard to
safety.
Alan Bishop wa s an international figure andregularly travelled
abroad to lecture. Bishopspublic lectures were notable in that they
werealways crowded. Tw o halls were needed for hisRankin e Lecture
in 196 6 on The strength of soilsas engineering materials;
engineers coming fromfar and wide. A ll of his lectures were
invariablypacked with interest a nd incisive comm ent and itpaid to
be early in the lecture hall so as to securea seat close to the
front, b ecause this famous manwas intensely shy and spoke very
softly.
Imperial College was fortunate when ProfessorSkem pton asked A
lan Bishop to join the staff, notonly because of the reasons
highlighted above,but because he took a great interest in the
devel-opment of the soils section and in the welfare ofthe staff
and students. He was Dea n of the Cityand Guilds College for three
years from 197 0 to1973.
653
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654 OBITUARYAlan was a keen sailor, and kept a convertedlifeboat
at Faversham. When time permitted, hewould sail in the Thames
estuary and up-river,his crew recruited from the current group
ofresearch students.Unfortunately, Alan Bisho p was not blessed
with robust health and he had to retire in 1980.After this time
he became a Senior ResearchFellow from 1980 to 1983 and the title
of Emer-itus Professor was conferred. Single throughouthis college
life, Alan wa s now fortunate to meetand marry M yrtle. Myrtle and
Alan embarked ona new life which was spent in Scotland during
thespring and summ er, returning to their home inWh itstable for
the winter. These last five yearswere short but happy ones.Angus
Skinner
Professor A. W. Skempton adds:It was a great privilege and the
best of goodfortune to be associated for nearly 40 years withone of
the finest intellects in our subject. In norespect w as his
intellectual power seen moreclearly than in his continued study of
Terzagh isprinciple of effective stress and its application inall
branches of geotechnical engineering; his wor kin this field brough
t about a highly beneficial rev-olution in soil mechan ics.As for
his skill as an experimentalist, AlbertCaquot, the distinguished
French academician,exclaimed after a visit to the laboratory
atImperial College, this is the country of Mic haelFaraday . Bisho
p was totally and very seriouslydevote d to soil mechan ics, both
as a scientist andan engineer.Though reserved in a manner
compatible withhis Quaker faith, he appreciated a good sense
ofhumour. He was loved and respected by hisnumerous research
students, w ho came from allparts of the world. Through them and
the strictbut friendly criticism of his colleagues wor k, andhis
own important contributions, he exerte d aunique influence.
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