Today in History – March 31, 1889 – Eiffel Tower opens. The 300m Eiffel Tower was commissioned to commemorate the French Revolution. Amazingly, all of the elements were prepared in Gustav Eiffel’s factory located at Levallois-Perret on the outskirts of Paris. There were 18,000 pieces used to construct the Tower. Each piece was designed and [...]

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Today in History – March 19, 1932 – the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Australia, was opened. It is the world’s largest steel-arch Bridge. Here, you can do this: ipv4 to ipv6 calculator and converter For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on bridge design and construction. For related educational resources, visit the Civil Engineering Education [...]

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Today in History – February 22, 1985 – one billionth car crosses the  Golden Gate Bridge, the bridge crosses the Golden Gate Strait  between San Francisco and Marin County to the north. Construction began on January 5, 1933. The bridge was open to pedestrian traffic on May 27, 1937, but was not open to automobile [...]

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Today in History – January 17, 1871 - U.S. patent issued for an “endless wire rope way” cable car (No.110,971). The inventor of the cable car was Andrew S. Hallidie (center image above) and contracted by the Clay Street Hill Railroad Company in San Francisco. Hallidie’s system used a continuous looped wire rope that was placed [...]

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Today in History- January 15, 1955 – first solar-heated and radiation-cooled house in the United States. Respect for the powers of the sun has been a critical part of building design since humans first built shelters for protection from the environment. I grew up in the American Southwest and recall that adobe buildings were designed [...]

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