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Famous Civil Engineers of All Time - Part II

1. John Bradfield



Dr. John Jacob "Job" Crew Bradfield CMG (26 December 1867 – 23 September 1943) was a prominent Australian engineer who is best known for his work overseeing the design and building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Bradfield was the designer and consulting engineer for the Story Bridge, Brisbane. He also designed the Cataract and Burrinjuck Dams. In October 1938 Bradfield published a proposal (known as the Bradfield Scheme) for diverting some coastal rivers of Queensland onto the western side of the Great Dividing Range. However, it was never implemented. Bradfield designed the Circular Quay railway station.

2. John Rennie the Elder



John Rennie FRSE FRS (7 June 1761 – 4 October 1821) was a Scottish civil engineer who designed many bridges, canals, and docks. In 1791, he moved to London and set up his own engineering business, having by then begun to expand into civil engineering, particularly the construction of canals. His early projects included the Lancaster Canal (started 1792), the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation (1793), the Crinan Canal (1794-1801), Rudyard Lake (1797) and the Rochdale Canal, which passes through difficult country between Rochdaleand Todmorden (1799). Waterloo Bridge was considered his masterpiece and was the most prestigious bridge project in England, described as 'perhaps the finest large masonry bridge ever built in this or any other country'. The Italian sculptor Canova called it ‘the noblest bridge in the world’ and said that ‘it is worth going to England solely to see Rennie’s bridge. London Bridge, built from his design by his sons, though not constructed until after his death, replaced the medieval bridge which was proving a serious impediment to the flow of the river and was eventually moved to Arizona. Southwark Bridge (1815–1819) was built as three cast-iron spans over the river. He also designed the Old Vauxhall Bridge. 

Rennie was also responsible for designing and building docks at Hull, Liverpool, Greenock, London (London, East India and West India docks), and Leith and improving the harbours and dockyards at Chatham, Devonport, Portsmouth, Holyhead, Ramsgate and Sheerness. He devoted much time to the preparation of plans for a government dockyard at Northfleet, but they were not carried out. Rennie's last project was London Bridge, still under construction when he died in 1821 but completed by his son, also John Rennie.

3.John Smeaton



John Smeaton, FRS, (8 June 1724 – 28 October 1792) was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals,harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist. Smeaton was the first self-proclaimed civil engineer, and often regarded as the "father of civil engineering". He was associated with the Lunar Society.

Recommended by the Royal Society, Smeaton designed the third Eddystone Lighthouse (1755–59). He pioneered the use of 'hydraulic lime' (a form ofmortar that will set under water) and developed a technique involving dovetailed blocks of granite in the building of the lighthouse. His lighthouse remained in use until 1877 when the rock underlying the structure's foundations had begun to erode; it was dismantled and partially rebuilt at Plymouth Hoe where it is known as Smeaton's Tower. He is important in the history, rediscovery of, and development of modern cement, because he identified the compositional requirements needed to obtain "hydraulicity" in lime; work which led ultimately to the invention of Portland cement. Portland cement led to the re-emergence of concrete as a modern building material, largely due to Smeaton's influence.

Mechanical Engineer

Employing his skills as a mechanical engineer, he devised a water engine for the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in 1761 and a watermill at Alston, Cumbria in 1767 (he is credited by some with inventing the cast iron axle shaft for waterwheels). In 1782 he built the Chimney Mill at Spital Tongues in Newcastle upon Tyne, the first 5-sailed smock mill in Britain. He also improved Thomas Newcomen's atmospheric engine, erecting one at Chacewater mine, Wheal Busy, in Cornwall in 1775.
4. Squire Whipple



Squire Whipple C.E. (September 16, 1804 – March 15, 1888) was a civil engineer born in Hardwick, Massachusetts, USA. His family moved to New York when he was thirteen. He studied at Fairfield Academy. He graduated from Union College after only one year. He has become known as the father of iron bridge building in America.

Constructed by S. DeGraff of Syracuse, New York, 1867–69, the Whipple Cast and Wrought Iron Bowstring Truss Bridge over Norman's Kill in Albany, New York, is a very well preserved example of a Whipple Bowstring Arch Truss, still in daily use, with no posted weight limits. His patented designs were implemented in numerous bridges, both Whipple truss and prefabricated bowstring arch truss bridges, which became the standard design for Erie Canal crossings; using an economical mix of wrought iron for tension members and cast iron in compression. Another such arch is the Shaw Bridge, the only known Whipple bowstring at its original location and the only know "double" believed extant, the only "a structure of outstanding importance to the history of American engineering and transportation technology." There are at least four other Whipple bowstrings standing in Central New York state, and one in Newark, Ohio.






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