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Alexandre Gustave Eiffel birth
Born in Dijon, in the Côte-d'Or department of France, the first child of Catherine and Alexandre Eiffel. The family was originally from Germany, and moved to Paris in the early 18th century. -
Education
He enrolls at the Paris college of Sainte-Barbe to prepare his entrance exam to polytechnique. Failing the exam, he goes to École Centrale where he studies Chemistry. In 1855 he successfully obtains his diploma from École Centrale. -
Marriage and children
Gustave marries Marie Gaudelet on July 8, and in
1863 the birth of his daughter Claire occurs. They will have two more daughters and two sons. Though, sadly in 1877, the death of his wife occurs, and then of his mother. -
Eiffel et. Cie
On this day, Gustave created a partnership company called Eiffel et Cie. His partner's name was Thèophile Syrig, and their first task was a bridge over river Douro in Portugal. They named it the Maria Pia Bridge after the queen. They also designed and created a railway station in Budapest to Vienna. -
Thèophile and Gustave break apart
The partnership with Seyrig was gone, and the company was renamed the Compagnie des Establissments Eiffel. This was the same year the company was given the contract for the Garabit viaduct, a railway bridge near Ruynes en Margeride in the Cantal département. Just like the Douro Bridge, the project involved a lengthy viaduct crossing the river valley as well as the river crossing, and Eiffel was on the job alone. -
Creation of the Garabit Viaduct
To help Gustave in the bridge he had several people who also actually played important roles in the design and construction of the Eiffel Tower, including Maurice Koechlin, who loved to undertake calculations and make drawings, and Emile Nouguier, who had also previously worked for Gustave on the construction of the Douro Bridge. These men helped him for the project as well as the Eiffel tower, and without them the tower might have never been built. -
Gustave changes last name legally to "Eiffel"
Although the family used the last name Eiffel, they had never changed it until 1880. Gustave's name registered at birth as Bönickhausen, originating from Germany. The family had gotten the name Eiffel as a reference to the Eifel Mountains in the region from which they had come. -
Statue of Liberty (Continued)
& being sent to New York on many ships in many pieces as a gift. The picture in the previous event is one of Gustave's plans for the interior of the statue. This shows the current day Statue of Liberty at night. The statue, is of a robed female representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who holds a torch and a tabula ansata which inscribed is the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue is an icon of freedom, also a welcome. -
Gustave and the Statue of Liberty
In 1881 Eiffel was found by Auguste Bartholdi who was in need of an engineer to help him with the Statue of Liberty. Some work had already been done by Eugène Viollet-Le-Duc, but he had died in 1879. Eiffel was chosen because of his experience with wind stresses with his bridges. Eiffel created a structure consisting of a four-legged pylon to support the copper sheeting which made up the body of the statue. The entire statue was created at the Eiffel works in Paris before being dismantled -
The creation of the Eiffel Tower.
The Eiffel Tower design was originated by Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, who had talked about ideas for a centerpiece for the 1889 Exposition Universelle. In May 1884 Koechlin, drawing at home, made an outline of their tower, said by him as "a great pylon, consisting of four lattice girders standing apart at the base and coming together at the top, joined together by metal trusses at regular intervals." Gustave was uninterested, though when they involved Stephen Sauvestre to add -
Eiffel Tower (Continued)
-architectural embellishments, Sauvestre added the arches to the base, a glass pavilion to the first level and the cupola at the top. The more enhanced and better designed tower idea brought Eiffel's support for the project, and he then bought the rights to the patent on the design which Koechlin, Nougier and Sauvestre had taken out. The design was shown at the Exhibition of Decorative Arts in the autumn of 1884, and on 30 March 1885 Eiffel read a paper on the project- -
Eiffel Tower (Continued 3)
to the Société des Ingiénieurs Civils. After talking about the technical problems and the everyday uses of the tower, he finished his talk by saying that the tower would symbolise
"not only the art of the modern engineer, but also the century of Industry and Science in which we are living, and for which the way was prepared by the great scientific movement of the eighteenth century and by the Revolution of 1789, to which this monument will be built as an expression of France's- -
The Panama SCANDAL
Gustave Eiffel was now given a new job, and it was to be involved in the French effort to create a canal across the Panama Isthmus. The company that hired Gustave headed by Ferdinand de Lesseps wanted to build a sea level canal but then realized it was impractical, they changed their plan to using heavier locks which Eiffel had to design and build. After a year of his planning the company stopped payments of interests and was put into liquidation, Some said government officials were bribed not -
The Panama SCANDAL (Continued)
to expose the companies financial situation. Eiffel, being the face of the project was fined 20,000 frances and had two years in prison but was luckily soon aquitted. -
Eiffel Tower (Continued 4)
gratitude." After the tower was finally approved, it was a very controversal topic, and many thought Eiffel was going crazy. Headlines like "Eiffel Suicide" appeared because many thought the huge tower would cover up all the other beautiful sights of France. But when the tower was completed in March 5 years later, it was not regreted. -
Eiffel's Later Career
After his retirement from the Compagnie des Establissments Eiffel, Eiffel went on to do work in meteorology and aerodynamics. Eiffel's interest in these areas was caused by the problems he had encountered with the effects of wind forces on the things he had built in the past. He built his first wind tunnel in 1909 in his lab near the Eiffel tower. His work in these subjects was important to people like the Wright Brothers, Gabriel Voisin and Louis Blériot. -
Awarded the Samuel P. Langley Medal for Aerodynamics
In 1913 Eiffel was awarded the Samuel P. Langley Medal for Aerodromics by the Smithsonian Institute. In his speech at the presentation of the medal, Alexander Graham Bell said:
"His writings upon the resistance of the air have already become classical. His researches, published in 1907 and 1911, on the resistance of the air in connection with aviation, are especially valuable. They have given engineers the data for designing and constructing flying machines upon sound, scientific principle." -
Death of Gustave Eiffel
Eiffel died on 27 December 1923, while listening to Beethoven's 5th symphony andante, in his mansion on Rue Rabelais in Paris, France. He was buried in the Cimetière de Levallois-Perret. -
Stunt with the Eiffel Tower
[Video](http://<a href='http://www.airspacemag.com/video/Under-the-Eiffel-Tower.html)' >Video</a> Robert Moriarty, is the first person to fly a Bonanza plane through the arches of the tower! -
AJ Hackett Jumps off the Eiffel Tower!
Video
AJ Hackett, jumps off the Eiffel Tower with his own bungy jumping cords! Though he is arrested once he reaches the ground! -
Why Gustave Eiffel (Continued)
which is that when you set your mind to do something, like Gustave did with this tower, no matter how many people critisize like "Suicide Eiffel," you should do what you intended. And Gustave did this, and with that he created a beautiful tower, the most recognizable in the world, it was definately worth it for Gustave Eiffel. It shows us to take the shot we want to, it could become worldwide. Gustave once said, "I ought to be jealous of the tower, it is more famous than I am." Gustave Eiffel, -
Why Gustave Eiffel (Continued 3)
not only inspired those in the field of aerodynamics, but also those with a dream everyone doubts. He deserves to be remembered after all of the things he has offered the world, his bridges and train stations for transportation, cathedrals, statues, and of course, towers! -
Why Gustave Eiffel should be remembered.
Gustave Eiffel was an inspiration to the world, his works of art legendary, and his tower the most recognizable in the world. He inspired many in aerodynamics, especially the Wright Bros. And if that hadn't happened who knows if we'd even have planes right now! He made many bridges and train stations, which were very important to traveling during the Industrial Era in France. His most recognizable works, the Statue of Liberty & the Eiffel Tower, are symbols of freedom, and the tower has meaning
