Centenary of the death of Gustave Eiffel | Five things to (re)discover about Eiffel

(Paris) An extraordinary engineer and recognized scientist, the Frenchman Gustave Eiffel, who died 100 years ago, is forever associated with his famous Parisian iron tower, one of the most famous monuments in the world.

We also owe to this captain of industry, a true start-upper before its time, a vast architectural heritage, with hundreds of constructions on all continents (many bridges, but also stations, lighthouses, etc.), and inventions in the fields of meteorology and aerodynamics .

Here are five things to (re)discover about Gustave Eiffel, who died on December 27, 1923 at the age of 91:

The Bonickhausen Tower?

Built in 1889 for the Paris Universal Exhibition, the Eiffel Tower, which quickly became the symbol of France, could have had more Germanic overtones…

Of German origin, Gustave was born in 1832 in Dijon under the name “Bonickhausen dit Eiffel”. After the war of 1870 against Prussia, the inventor will get rid of this surname “likely to harm (him)”. Gustave definitively becomes Eiffel and will give this name to his tower…

A decisive and lasting influence

So what would the trained chemist have invented if he had not been diverted to metallurgy by a family quarrel? He will implement revolutionary techniques: cantilever assembly, foundations of bridge piers with compressed air, piece by piece design in his workshops in Levallois-Perret, near Paris, metal structures assembled by rivets, etc.

Eiffel’s creations are both technical feats and aesthetic successes. It is thus his decisive intervention on the framework of the Statue of Liberty which makes Bartholdi’s work technically viable.

So many innovations that will influence generations of architects and engineers.

Around the world in 80… works

The construction of the Pest station (Hungary), the first to have an exposed metal facade, definitively established its reputation. In the four corners of the world, we order from Eiffel. Dozens and dozens of famous works (the Porto bridge over the Douro and the Garabit viaduct, which echo each other, the dome of the Nice observatory, etc.) or less known: lighthouses in Madagascar, in Finland, Egypt or Estonia, a Peruvian cathedral, the metal framework of the Saigon post office, “portable” bridges sold in kits, etc.

The highlight of course remains ITS Eiffel Tower. A gigantic mechanic assembled in record time (and which initially had to be dismantled!) and decried by intellectuals, it then became the highest monument in the world (300 meters) and will remain so for 40 years.

Eurotunnel ahead of time

Never short of ideas, Eiffel launched a new pharaonic project in 1890: a bridge under the Channel! He filed a patent for an underwater tubular bridge system with resistant metal walls with an interior concrete envelope, placed on support points resting on the seabed…

This project will ultimately never see the light of day, for reasons at least as much political as technical. But it foreshadows what will become 104 years later the famous Eurotunnel, whose total length is equivalent to… 169 Eiffel Towers placed end to end.

Mr new technologies

Shattered by the Panama Canal scandal for which he designed giant locks – he even spent a week in prison before being exonerated – Gustave Eiffel, deeply injured, withdrew from business. To devote himself until his death to scientific and experimental research. In meteorology and aerodynamics in particular.

At the top of the Eiffel Tower, he installed a weather observatory then a permanent TSF transmitter. And he, who has studied the force of the winds a lot for his constructions, will work a lot on the wind tunnels. He created one in the west of Paris (still in operation!) which includes an air vein two meters in diameter that can reach a speed of 30 m per second.

This type of wind tunnel, which will be copied and reproduced throughout the world, will make it possible to carry out aerodynamic tests in a wide variety of fields: aeronautics, automobiles, construction, shipbuilding, thermal power plants, bridges, etc.