William LeMessurier, one of the nation's most distinguished structural engineers, served as design and construction consultant on the innovative Citicorp Tower, completed in 1977 in New York. The following year, after a student studying the tower's design for his thesis called him to point out a possible deficiency, LeMessurier discovered that the building was indeed structurally deficient. The defect arose from the replacement of welded joints with bolted joints. LeMessuerier performed calculations and discovered that the bolt joints were insufficient to withstand the strong quarter winds. LeMessurier's calculations found that winds gusting to 70 mph would topple the building. According to New York City weather records, the chance of a storm with 70 mph winds was one in sixteen years. Taking into account the tuned mass damper, LeMessurier calculated that the probability of failure could be reduced to one every fifty-five years, but this assumed that the building's electrical supply, necessary for the damper to operate mass granted, was maintained. without saying...