The Bishop Method: The life and achievements of Professor Alan Bishop

Bishop is one of the best-known names in the soil mechanics, or geotechnical engineering, community. This is mainly due to the method he devised for estimating the stability of soil slopes which became known as The Bishop Method and immortalised his name. However, Bishop's contributions to the development of soil mechanics were far wider and of greater significance than his slope stability ‘method’ as this book demonstrates.

In the eyes of many people Bishop did not receive the recognition he deserved during his lifetime, and indeed has not received since. However, The Bishop Method makes it clear just how influential and important Bishop's contributions were to soil mechanics. The book comprises three parts:

Part 1 – the story of Bishop’s life, emphasising his particular problem-solving skills

Part 2 – his contribution to soil mechanics in some detail, of particular interest to anyone with a technical/professional perspective

Part 3 – articles by past students and others who knew him which together paint a fascinating picture of the man.