Of Golden Proportions

Abstract

K aren Stewart's invitation to deliver today's lecture pleased me. It is flattering to have this responsibility. The enormity of the task and the implications of the effort later awakened the more appropriate emotions of humility and apprehension. Karen has been a special friend and professional colleague for 20 years. We have grown together. Karen, thank you for this opportunity. My relationship with the American Society for Hand Therapists began in 1975 on Nob Hill, in San Francisco, during the 30th annual meeting of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. A core group of hand therapists had decided to form the ASHT. Evelyn Mackin asked me to take their picture to commemorate the seminal moment. That photograph captured Bonnie Olivett-your first president-Evelyn, Judy Bell, Peggy Carter, Mary Kasch, and Karen Lauckhardt, each destined to be President of your society. Your growth and development from that ambitious beginning have commanded admiration. Together we have endeavored to preserve and improve the form and of the upper limb. The perception of form and its translation to is an intriguing subject. Form ever follows and the corollary, function ever follows form, are equally applicable to the restoration of altered hands. Today we shall explore form and its perception from a different perspective and view an inspirational example of the rewards of love, support, and the inner spirit. There are reasons to believe that ancient scholars pondered the existence of a golden proportion and the numbers that created it. The earliest doc-