ABSTRACT

The wooden bridge that spans the river Cam at Queens’ College, Cambridge is known as the ‘mathematical bridge’ because of its intricate, geometric design. According to local lore the bridge was once held together by nothing more than its intricate design and the ways in which the different components of the bridge fitted together. The bridge was disassembled, so the story goes, and then it was discovered that it was impossible to reassemble it to its original state. The new bridge had to be supported and held together with metal bolts. Deconstructing the different, inter-related, components of the life and career of an individual carries the same risk. Once disassembled, there is the danger that we will never be able to rebuild the whole structure. Yet it is necessary to deconstruct the structure in order to understand its various parts. If the passage of time has forced such deconstruction upon us, then the task becomes yet more onerous still.