Skip to main content

Gustave Eiffel Biography

Gustave Eiffel

(Alexandre Gustave Eiffel; Dijon, 1832-Paris, 1923) French engineer and architect.After graduating from the School of Arts and Crafts in Paris in 1855, he specialized in the construction of metal bridges.His first work of this type was carried out in Bordeaux in 1858; In 1877 he designed the impressive 160-meter metal arch of the bridge over the Douro, near Porto.A little later it surpassed its own mark with the Garabit viaduct, for many years the highest artificial laying in the world (120 meters).

Gustave Eiffel

Pioneer when considering the aerodynamic factor in its constructions, to the point of building the first aerodynamic laboratory in Auteuil, To his credit are works as diverse as the mobile dome of the Nice Observatory or the metal structure of the famous Statue of Liberty in New York.

However, his greatest achievement was the impressive steel tower located in Paris and which was named after him.The Eiffel Tower was built on the Champ de Mars in Paris for the Universal Exhibition of 1889.Today it is one of the best-known buildings in the world and has become the symbol of the French capital.

The organization of the Universal Exhibition, commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution (1789), was used by Gustave Eiffel to demonstrate to the world the technological advances in the architecture of his country through the erection of a tower 300 meters high and an iron structure.After the approval of the project (conceived by his collaborator Maurice Koechlin) by the competent body, it was erected on the left bank of the Seine, in the heart of Paris.The works began in 1887 and two years and 6,900 tons of iron were invested in its construction.

The tower stands on a square base of 125 meters, which has the four starting supports embedded in its corners in which the elegant arches that support the different floors are inscribed.The curves of the four sides provide an impression of strength and beauty and the gaps favor the passage of air, guaranteeing the stability of the building.Its large-capacity elevator system was the first to be installed in the world.Its 300 meters made it the tallest building in the world until the inauguration of the Empire State Building in New York in 1922.

Eiffel Tower

Its Construction aroused a heated controversy, as many considered it a crude structure lacking artistic sensibility.At the beginning of its construction, a group of intellectuals-among which Garnier and Zola stood out-signed a letter of protest addressed to the curator of the Exhibition, in which they complained about that "vertiginous and ridiculous tower that dominates Paris, like a gigantic dark factory chimney ".The composer Charles Gounod and the writer Alexandre Dumas Jr.wrote a letter of protest against the construction of the tower; the writer Guy de Maupassant left Paris to show his disgust.But once finished, many of the initial detractors were seduced "by the fantastic that delights our littleness.Planted on its arched legs, solid, huge, monstrous, brutal, it seems that, disregarding whistles and applause, it tries to seek and defy the sky, regardless of what moves at your feet."

Originally conceived as a temporary attraction, in 1909 it was bought by the French state.Later it was considered to be demolished due to high maintenance costs and the danger of future weakening of the structure by oxidation.However, the strong popular reaction to the idea that the tower, considered a national symbol, would disappear, led to the abandonment of this purpose.Nowadays, in addition to being a tourist attraction, the tower houses the facilities of the French Radio and Television and functions as a beacon for planes heading to Paris Orly airport.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Joseph H. Maclagan Wedderburn Biography

Joseph H.Maclagan Wedderburn (Forfar, 1882-Princeton, 1948) British mathematician.Professor at Princeton University, he was editor of the Proceedings of the Edinburgh mathematical society (1905-1909) and the Annals of mathematics (1912-1928).He stated a theorem ( Wedderburn's theorem ) according to which every finite field is commutative.
Post a Comment
Read more

Camilo Sesto Biography

Camilo Sesto (Camilo Blanes Cortés; Alcoy, Alicante, 1946-Madrid, 2019) Spanish singer of light music, one of the most popular figures of the 1970s in Spain and Latin America.Initially interested in painting, in 1965 he joined a short-lived pop group called Los Botines. Camilo Sesto Five years later, in 1970, he began his solo career (at that time with the stage name of Camilo Sexto) and debuted discographically with the single "Llegará el verano".Later, with the former member of Los Brincos Juan Pardo as producer, he adapted a Brahms piece to pop with the title "Buenas noches", which was relatively successful.They were followed by "A ti, Manuela", "Ay, ay, Roseta" and the popular song "Algo de mi" (1972), nominated by the chain Ser as song of the summer.A year later, in November, he participated in the OTI International Festival as a representative of Televisión Española with the song "Algo más", composed by Juan Calde...
Post a Comment
Read more

History of the feminist movement in Spain

Do you know what the term feminism really means? Many people confuse it with what is called feminism, in order to define it we will talk about the history of feminism in Spain. In today's article we will mention: Definition of feminism The feminist movement Fight for equality between both genders and not for the superiority of women over men (feminism).The first theoretical references we find about feminism come from the time of French Enlightenment, this movement was born to fight for women's rights. History of feminism in Spain From the establishment of the first Republic women begin to have more rights as the right to vote, but it is not until the establishment of the second Republic when the Spanish feminist movement does not acquire so much strength. There are three women who stand out, Clara Campoamor , Victoria Kent and Margarita Nelken who became the first deputies of the Spanish Cortes, women we can still hear about. Later, they are many more wome...
Post a Comment
Read more

Josef Willem Mengelberg Biography

Josef Willem Mengelberg (Utrecht, 1871-Zuort, 1951) Dutch conductor.He studied in his hometown with Richard Hol, Henri Wilhelm Petri and Anton Averkamp and later moved to Cologne (Germany), in whose conservatory he studied theory and counterpoint with G.Jensen, piano with I.Seiss and organ with F.W.Franke, in addition to directing and composing with Franz Wüllner. He was musical director of the Lucerne Conservatory in 1892 and years later, in 1895, he obtained the position of director of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, a position he held until 1945.He also continued directing the Museum Concerts group in Frankfurt between 1907 and 1920.From 1899 he annually conducted the Amsterdam Toonkunst Choir in its interpretation of the Passion According to Saint Matthew by JS Bach. He also conducted the American National Symphony Orchestra in New York between 1920 and 1929 and was principal conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra from 1921 until he left it due to differen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jose Vicente Concha Biography

José Vicente Concha (Bogotá, 1867-Rome, 1929) Colombian politician and jurisconsult.He represented the most progressive line within the Conservative Party.He contributed to reform the Constitution of 1886 in a more liberal sense and opposed the Urrutia-Thompson treaty (1914), which restored relations with the United States in exchange for compensation of $ 25 million.He held the presidency of the Republic (1914-1918); during his tenure the old border conflict with Ecuador ended.In 1918 he was appointed ambassador to the Holy See.As a jurist, he wrote several legal treatises.In 1897 he founded El Día .
Post a Comment
Read more

José Rebolledo de Palafox and Melzi Biography

José Rebolledo de Palafox y Melzi Spanish military (Zaragoza, 1776-Madrid, 1847).Coming from a noble family, he belonged to the body of the Royal Guards of Corps since 1792.When the French invasion broke out the War of Independence (1808-14), José de Palafox had already been promoted to brigadier; and the popular rebellion of his city proclaimed him captain general of Zaragoza. José de Palafox (detail of a portrait of Goya) He immediately summoned the Cortes of Aragon (which had not met for a century), which confirmed in office.He organized the general mobilization for the defense of the city, which withstood two long sieges against Napoleon's troops (1808-09).The city ended up capitulating, against the advice of Palafox, who was taken prisoner and remained confined in Valençay until the end of the war. Restored to the throne of Fernando VII, Palafox was appointed Duke of Zaragoza, captain general of Aragon, head of the Halberdiers corps, general director of the War Invali...
Post a Comment
Read more

X-ray history

The X-rays were discovered in 1895 and from there they became a very revolutionary application in many branches of science, from astronomy to radiographs that we have not done so many times.the 120th anniversary of the X-rays knowing his inventor and the research that led him to such an important scientific advance. Article index Who invented the X-rays? The inventor or, rather, the person who discovered the X-rays was Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen , a German physicist who was focused on the field of electromagnetics Nothing else to present his discovery, Rontgen's theory received great attention from critics and public, and was translated into French, English or Russian. Although it is not a name as well known today as that of others you celebrate writers, the name of Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen is written in gold letters in the medical field, where he has had and has and numerous applications.The importance of his discovery was such in his day that he was the first Nobel Prize ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jose Triadó Mayol Biography

José Triadó Mayol (Barcelona, ​​1870- id ., 1929) Spanish draftsman, former bookseller and painter.He collaborated with his drawings in the magazines El gato negro (1898), Album Salón (1898-1899) and Hispania (1899-1902).Outstanding author of ex libris, as a painter he made the triptych Las Cortes de Manresa for the Sant Jordi room of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
Post a Comment
Read more

Joseph Reinach Biography

Joseph Reinach (Paris, 1856-1921) French journalist.He started in the journalistic profession through the Parisian newspaper La République Française , where from 1877 he began to publish interesting political analyzes that placed him at the epicenter of French public life in the last quarter of the century XIX.He acquired such importance in such a short space of time that in 1881, following the proclamation in France of the Third Republic, President León Gambetta called him to his side to place all his trust in him and appoint him head of his secretariat. At only thirty years old (1886), he became editor-in-chief of La République Française .Once this position was released, he directed a noisy journalistic campaign from the pages of the newspaper against the nationalist and populist politics of Georges Boulanger (the " General Revanche ").With this and other similar matters of maximum national interest, Joseph Reinach continued to rise in French public life and, in 188...
Post a Comment
Read more