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Who Was Gustave Eiffel?
Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel was a pioneering French civil engineer and architect, renowned for his expertise in metal construction. Following his education, he initially focused on bridge design, gaining recognition for his innovative approaches. In 1879, after the unexpected death of the chief engineer on the Statue of Liberty project, Eiffel was appointed to take over, subsequently designing the statue’s metallic skeleton. His work on the Garabit viaduct, which he began in 1882, resulted in the highest bridge in the world at the time. These achievements laid the groundwork for his most famous project, the Eiffel Tower, which would ultimately secure his legacy in history.
Early Life
Gustave Eiffel was born on December 15, 1832, in Dijon, France. His interest in construction emerged early in his life, leading him to enroll at the École Polytechnique and later the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in Paris, where he graduated in 1855. After completing his studies, Eiffel specialized in metal construction, particularly in the design and construction of bridges. Throughout the following decades, he applied mathematical principles to create lighter and stronger structures, revolutionizing the field of engineering.
Early Projects
Eiffel’s career began in 1858 when he oversaw the construction of an iron bridge in Bordeaux. By 1866, he had established his own company, further solidifying his reputation in the industry. His design for the arched Gallery of Machines for the 1867 Paris Exhibition marked a significant milestone in his career. In 1876, he designed the Ponte Maria Pia Bridge, a 525-foot steel-arched structure spanning the Douro River in Oporto, Portugal, completed in the following year. Nearly two decades later, he utilized a similar design to construct the iconic 540-foot Garabit viaduct in Truyère, France, which, suspended 400 feet above the river, held the title of the highest bridge in the world for many years.
As his career progressed, Eiffel expanded his focus beyond bridge construction. In 1879, he designed a movable dome for the astronomical observatory in Nice, France. Later that year, following the passing of the initial engineer for the Statue of Liberty, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, Eiffel was chosen to lead the project. He developed a groundbreaking support system that utilized a skeletal framework to sustain the statue’s copper skin. Eiffel and his team meticulously constructed the statue before dismantling it for its transatlantic journey to New York Harbor, where it would become an enduring symbol of freedom and engineering ingenuity.
Eiffel Tower
Eiffel is most famous for what would become known as the Eiffel Tower, which was begun in 1887 for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris. The tower is composed of 12,000 different components and 2,500,000 rivets, all designed and assembled to handle wind pressure. The structure is a marvel in material economy, which Eiffel perfected in his years of building bridges—if it were melted down, the tower’s metal would only fill up its base about two and a half inches deep.
Onlookers were both awed that Eiffel could build the world’s tallest structure (at 984 feet) in just two years and torn by the tower’s unique design, most deriding it as hideously modern and useless. Despite the tower’s immediate draw as a tourist attraction, only years later did critics and Parisians begin to view the structure as a work of art.
The tower also directed Eiffel’s interest to the field of aerodynamics, and he used the structure for several experiments and built the first aerodynamic laboratory at its base, later moving the lab to the outskirts of Paris. The lab included a wind tunnel, and Eiffel’s work there influenced some of the first aviators, including the Wright Brothers. Eiffel went on to write several books on aerodynamics, most notably Resistance of the Air and Aviation, first published in 1907.
Eiffel turned his interest to meteorology in his final years, studying the subject at length before his death on December 27, 1923.