greatest engineers ever?

[renthefinn]

Karl Terzhagi - "The father of soil mechanics" after all, every tall building needs a good foundation.

[daisyau]

He is one of the latest but what Calatrava (both Architect and Engineer) for Valencia is amazing. He gives the chance to Valencia to became an important city in Europe, a new image not only for its efficient port. If you are going to Valencia you will realized how much he did fo this city!

[hammersklavier]

David Lindenthal is also a pretty awesome bridge engineer.

I'd also like to nominate Messrs. Sir John Fowler and Benjamin Baker, designers of the Firth of Forth bridge, one of the most exquisite structures anywhere in the world.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

The bridge has been modified by an at-times sloppy ensemble of additional cables which stiffen the deck.

The stay cables are an original part of Roebling's design.

[STR]

Leslie Robertson. Think of a tall building from the World Trade Center in NYC to the World Financial Center in Shanghai, there's a decent chance he was the engineer.

[Beta_Magellan]

Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

[johnnypd]

My hometown of Newcastle upon Tyne has produced a crap load of famed engineers.

due to much early train development being centered in newcastle there's a dozen or so of the most important railway pioneers in history from the city - most notably george stephenson and his son robert stephenson, who's already been mentioned a few times in the thread. but also others like timothy hackworth, william hedley, matthew murray, john blenkinsopp, john baillie, george barclay bruce, etc

then there's william armstrong, developer of the modern hydraulic crane, who went on to found the biggest engineering works in the world in Newcastle, building armaments, trains, ships and so on.

also charles merz, an electrical engineer who devised britain's national grid system, unifying frequences and voltages to a national standard.

then famed danish engineer Ove Arup was born in Newcastle. he engineered the sydney opera house, and founded Arup, the global engineering firm.

and also charles algernon parsons invented the modern steam turbine in newcastle.

[nito]

Special mention to Thomas Cochrane and Sir Marc Isambard Brunel & his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel who built the Thames Tunnel.

Constructed between 1825 and 1843 it wasn't just the world's first underwater tunnel, but the first to implement a tunnelling shield - the basis for all TBM's (tunnel boring machines) to this date. The 25th March represnted the 168th year since opening and is now the core section of the East London Line.


Source: murphyz at Flickr.com


Another mention goes out Colonel G. T. Landmann who was the Royal Engineer behind the London and Greenwich Railway. Constructed between 1834-36, the line was the world's first elevated railway, with the world's first train city centre train terminus (London Bridge Station).

The elevated route spans 851 arches and 27 skew arches (5.5km) and at its widest point accomodates 12 tracks. Despite being 175 years old, the route is still in use by hundreds of trains each day. I'd be interested to know how many millions (perhaps billions) of bricks were used to construct the route.


Source: Neil Pulling at Flickr.com


Source: turner.adam at Flickr.com

[hammersklavier]

It's really amazing the arches under that railway are rentable space. I've never seen anything like that here in the U.S.

[texcolo]

I think Alec Eiffel deserves a mention.

[johnnypd]

Originally Posted by hammersklavier

It's really amazing the arches under that railway are rentable space. I've never seen anything like that here in the U.S.

many, perhaps most, small urban railways arches in the uk are like that. typically used as light industrial, garages or storage space, though many have been refurbished as things like offices or cafes more recently.