Today in History – January 5, 1892 – Construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge. After years of gathering support and funding for the bridge, Joseph Strauss oversaw its construction. The project was so massive that a Golden Gate District was formed to build the bridge. All in all the bridge ended up costing about [...]

[Read more →]

Today in History – December 7, 1988 – 6.9 earthquake destroys Armenia, Spitak and kills over 60,000. It is reported that the entire population of Spitak died in this devastating earthquake, making it one of the most deadly earthquakes in human history. Partial blame was placed on the substandard infrastructure in Soviet-era buildings. The Soviet [...]

[Read more →]

Today in History – November 30, 1886 – Niagra Falls becomes first commercial AC (alternating current) electric power plant. The name is synonymous with power. In 1886, George Westinghouse, a major proponent of AC power, had organized the Westinghouse Electric Company and by 1890, the company was operating 300 central generating stations. See the Engineering [...]

[Read more →]

Today in History – November 8, 1997 – the main channel of the Yangtze River in China began to be blocked in preparation for the world’s largest hydroelectric power project. The Three Gorges Dam project in the People’s Republic of China is extremely controversial along several dimensions. The project was developed with the objective of [...]

[Read more →]

Today in History – November 7, 1940 – Only four months after completion, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, “Galloping Gertie”, collapsed and became a classic case study in civil engineering, engineering mechanics and engineering ethics. See the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on bridge design and bridge failures. or visit the Civil Engineering Education or the Engineering [...]

[Read more →]