1879-1965

Bridge builder. Born in Feuerthalen, Canton Zurich. Studied civil engineering at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich from 1897 to 1902.

Immigrated to the US in 1904, and became a US citizen in 1924. He designed the largest bridges of New York city, including the Bayonne Bridge (1931), until 1978 the world’s longest arch bridge; the George Washington Bridge (1931), which had more than twice the span width of any previous bridge; and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (1964), at the time of construction the longest and heaviest suspension bridge in the world, which was so long that the curvature of the Earth had to be taken into account in the design of its towers. He was also consultant for the construction of the Golden Gate bridge, built in 1931-37. In 1964 President Lyndon B Johnson awarded him the National Medal of Science.