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 27 million dollars. One of the most innovative parts of the bridge’s construction was Strauss insistence on safety. Workers wore protective headgear, glare-free goggles, and even a special lotion that helped protect against the harsh winds. There was also a large net that was placed beneath the workers. When construction was completed in 1937 the net had saved nineteen lives. At the time of completion the bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world. And today it is still as iconic as it was 101 years ago.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on bridges. For related educational resources, visit the Civil Engineering Education or Construction Engineering Education disciplinary communities.

Also today in 1892, the first photograph of the Aurora Borealis was taken.

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 response was to outlaw construction of any buildings higher than five stories in the area, but little was done in terms improving construction standards or retrofitting existing buildings in the area. According to the World Global Seismic Hazard Map (left image) organized by the United Nations, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran, Turkey and Georgia are situated in one of the most seismically active zones in the world. In August 199, Istanbul was hit by an earthquake of 7.4 magnitude, killing over 17,000 and injuring approximately 250,000. In December 2003, a 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit Bam, Iran with an estimated death tally of near 50,000. More recently an earthquake on October 2005, the Kashmir region in Pakistan and India lost over 75,00 lives and displaced millions. Historical records suggest the deadliest earthquake in history killed approximately 1.1 million people in Egypt and Syria. Alas, a comprehensive strategy for urban planning is still lacking in much of these area, according to Architect Pirouz Khanlou.

Observe from the worldwide earthquake hazard map (second from left, above) that the entire west coast of the Americas and areas of China and Japan are also in the “red hot zone” for earthquakes on the planet. It is estimated that in 1556 a quake hit the Chinese province of Shansi, killing over 830,000 people. More recently in 1976, a deadly earthquake of a magnitude 8.0 hit Tianjin, China. The official casualty figure issued by the Chinese government was 255,000 people.

Sometimes the deaths are due to the immediate earthquake movement, but to the secondary forces unleashed, such as mudslides, avalanches or tsunamis. For example, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake at Mount Huascaran, Peru, on May 21, 1970, caused a rock and snow avalanche that buried 2 towns, killing as many as 20,000 people. Fortunately, these disasters are not daily events. But this does lull us into a false sense of security. How many of us living in earthquake zones are adequately prepared? Have we retrofitted our homes up to the latest building code standards? Do we have a home emergency plan? Professionally, engineers play a major role in better understanding the prediction and impact of earthquakes, as well as developing safety standards, building guidelines, inspection technologies and urban plans for emergency response.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway‘s resources on earthquakes and seismic hazards. For related educational resources, visit the Civil Engineering Education, Geological Engineering Education, Construction Engineering Education, or Architectural Engineering Education community sites.

Also today in 1972, the first color photograph of Earth was captured (left photo above). I recall when these “blue marble” photos from Apollo 17 were made public. I was struck by the interconnectedness for all beings and countries on our planet. It was the first time that the south polar ice cap was made visible from space. Today these photos from space are being used for commercial applications, such as Google Earth, as well as for monitoring global warming and environmental concerns. Coincidentally, also launched today was the new map of the Antarctica from the LIMA (Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica) initiative in support of International Polar Year. For more information, see the Engineering Pathway‘s resources on earth photos, Landsat, Antarctica and global warming. For related educational resources, visit the Environmental Engineering Education or the Geological Engineering Education community sites.

Also on this day in 1926, the gas refrigerator was patented. Browse are related resources on refrigerators and industrial design.

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 Pathway’s educational resources on dam design and construction. or visit the Civil Engineering Education or the Electrical Engineering Education community sites.

Also on this day in history in 1934, the “Flying Scotsman” becomes the first steam locomotive to exceed 100 MPH.

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 controling flooding, providing hydroelectric power, and increasing trade and economic development within China – but the costs and benefits are far from being clear as scores of people and villages will be displaced and silting considerations and geological weakening could result in catastrophic disasters. Environmentalists are concerned that the dam is endangering several species near extinction, most notable the white-flag dolphin, which is listed as one of the 12 most endangered species in the world. Although locals have reported spotting the dolphin, a team of 25 scientists from six countries failed to find any white flag dolphins during a 38-day search last year. Thus it could very well be extinct today. If so, it would be the first cretacean of historical record to be driven to extinction by human activily, as the dolphin has no other natural enemies. This project provides an interesting case in cost-benefit analysis and engineering ethics in a country without full public debate.

See the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on dam design and construction. or visit the Civil Engineering Education or the Environmental Engineering Education community sites.

Also on this day in history, Wilhelm Rontgen discovered x-rays in 1895. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 based on this discovery.

See the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on bridge design and bridge failures. or visit the Civil Engineering Education or the Engineering Mechanics Engineering community sites.

Also on this day in history, NASA launched the Mars Global Surveyor in 1996, an orbital spacecraft, with the purpose of monitoring weather and gathering global maps of surface features of Mars.

Today in History – October 31, 1941 – Mount Rushmore was completed. The Mount Rushmore project was an incredible feat of engineering and an integration of art and technology. It is the largest work of art on earth with a face that is 60 feet high. Although the workers regularly used dynamite and heavy equipment, it was constructed with no deaths and very few injuries. See the Engineering Pathway’s related resources in art and technology.

The original visionaries of Mount Rushmore had hoped to carve out local heros and were considering General George Armstrong Custer and Buffalo Bill Cody. The local Lakota Indians protested, as did the sculptor Gutzon Borglum, a student of French artist Auguste Rodin. The four presidential figures that make up Mount Rushmore were selected to “create an eternal reminder of the birth, growth, preservation and development of a nation dedicated to democracy and the pursuit of individual liberty.”

Meanwhile Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear worked with sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski (below right) to produce an even larger sculpture honoring the legendary Lakota leader Crazy Horse and his culture. Construction is ongoing at the Crazy Horse Memorial and Museum. See the Engineering Pathway’s related resources for Native American Engineers and Scientists.

City Hall station, southern terminus of the
9.1-mile system when it opened on October 27, 1904.
The station, in disrepair, is still under City Hall Park.

William Barclay Parsons, Chief Engineer of the Rapid Transit Commission until the subway opened in 1904, was very vocal about the social implications of engineering. In a March 1905 address at Purdue University, “Rapid Transit in Great Cities,” he argued that large-scale engineering projects of the day required “something more in the way of a foundation than an enthusiastic dream; there is needed from the beginning the cold analytical methods of a trained and educated mind.” That educated mind, however, would be “concerned not only with calculations, but will also have to study men and their needs, questions of industrial demand, the law of finance, and much in regard to legislation.” Even in the early 1900’s, Parsons foresaw the important relationship between engineering and society—good perspective to have as he left the just-opened NYC Subway system to serve on the Isthmanian Canal Commission in Panama.

By 1940, the city itself had purchased all of the subway lines as well as the elevated lines, eventually creating the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Air-conditioned cars were not in use until July 19, 1967, when they were introduced on the “F” line. Air conditioning units were added through retrofitting until new subway cars came with the feature installed in 1983.

The use of the transit system is estimated to keep approximately 700,000 cars out of New York City’s central business district daily, saving 400 million pounds of soot, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and other toxic substances from entering the air each year. The NYC subway system has been a leader in deploying clean technologies—NYC Transit signed a charter on “Sustainable Development in Mobility” on Earth Day (April 21) in 2004. This will come as no surprise to those who have live or work in New York City or have friends there—it’s hard to find a City-dweller who even owns a car. By not having a car, residents more than save the money needed to cover the cost of riding NYC Transit as well as the occasional taxi cab. The system’s Environmental Management System meets ISO 14001 standards, including improved and enhanced environmental performance, pollution prevention and resource conservation, increased efficiency and cost reduction, and employee awareness of environmental issues and responsibilities.

The Stillwell Terminal at Coney Island station in Brooklyn sports
a 60,000-square-foot photovoltaic roof that produces 250 kW.

The Roosevelt Avenue-74th Street Station in Queens is the point of entry into the subway system for many who fly into LaGuardia—it’s a short ride on the Q33 bus to get there from the airport. That station produces 65 kW of power—in addition to a roof system, thin-film solar panels are installed on the elevated subway platform.

The Roosevelt Avenue-74th Street Station
Roof Solar Panel System is part of a system
that produces 65kW.

The latest in power-reducing measures in the NYC Subway are
“New Millennium Trains” that have regenerative braking.
These cars are currently in use on the 2, 4, 5, 6, L, and N lines.

In addition to the benefits to commuters and reducing the environmental impact of transportation into New York City, the infrastructure of the NYC subway is a useful conduit for emergency services. After the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001, the transit system brought 3,500 employees and enough heavy equipment to cover five city blocks to the affected area within hours. The rubble from the disaster buried over ¼ mile of the #1 and #9 line between Liberty and Barclay Streets and took just over a year to clear.

New York City Subway provided 1.563 billion rides in 2007 and was fourth in the world in ridership behind Tokyo, Moscow, and Seoul. A significant amount of history and lore about the NYC Subway system is found at www.nycsubway.org, including behind-the-scenes look at the technology of the system. Poetry inspired by an NYC Subway station is also available.

For more information see the Engineering Pathway’s curricular resources on subways and tunnels. Or visit the Civil Engineering Education, Engineering Mechanics Education, Mechanical Engineering Education or the Engineering Science Education disciplinary communities.

Today in History- October 21, 1824 – Portland cement is patented by Joseph Aspdin, a stone mason in Yorkshire, England (UK patent No. 5022). He made it by burning finely pulverized lime and clay at high temperatures in kilns and grinding the mixture into a powder. This hydraulic cement would then harden with the addition of water. The result was a manufactured counterpart to ancient (27 BC) Roman cement made from lime and volcanic ash. He named his invention “Portland cement” as it resembled the high quality building  stone quarried on the Isle of Portland off the British coast.

See the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on Portland cement and concrete or visit the Civil Engineering Education, Construction Engineering Education or the Architectural Engineering Education community sites.

Today in History – September 1, 1873 – the world’s first cable-powered railroad in San Francisco is put into operation. 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 in a tube below the surface of the ground. A motor kept the rope in continuous motion (first image below) and the rope was grasped and released by a griping device on the passenger car and controlled by the “driver”. Bells were used to warn other cars and pedestrians that a cable car was on its way. A code was developed so that the bell could be used to communicate between cable car drivers as well.

Legend has it that Hallidie’s inspiration for the cable car came in 1869 after witnessing horses being whipped while they struggled on the wet cobblestones to pull a horsecar up Jackson Street. When a horse slipped, it was sometimes dragged to its death.

Hallidie’s design was described in the Scientific American Supplement, September 17, 1881 with the title: The Wire Rope Street Railways of San Francisco, California. Hallidie describes how his cable car system operates and the various San Francisco companies (at that time) that had successfully adapted the cable car for their street railway company.

Andrew Smith Hallidie tested the first cable car at 4 o’clock in the morning, August 2nd, 1873, on Clay Street, in San Francisco. For more information, see the San Francisco Cable Car Museum and find out more about how cable cars work, their history and where they operate today. Or check out the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on cable cars and mass transportation systems.

Cable cars are a great example of the application of simple machines and mechanical advantage. For more information see the Engineering Pathway’s curricular resources and the Mechanical Engineering Education disciplinary community.

Today in History – August 15, 1914 – First ship through the Panama Canal. Ever since Europeans discovered the new world, sailors dreamed of linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans across the Isthmus of Panama, a narrow neck of land connecting North and South America in what is now the country of Panama. The construction of the Panama Canal meant that ships no longer needed to take the long and arduous route around the tip of South America and could shorten that voyage by weeks and thousands of miles.

The United States built the original canal at a cost of about $380 million, employing thousands of laborers over 10 years. Using steam shovels and dredges they cut through jungles, hills and swamps, removed 211 million cubic yards of earth and rock and workers suffered from malaria and yellow fever.

The United States controlled the Panama Canal Zone from 1903-1999. Now owned by Panama, the Canal operates as an international enterprise in character. For example, the Panama Canal is the one place in the world where a Captain must surrender command of his or her ship to go through the canal.

The Panama Canal is an amazing feat of engineering and is sometimes called the Eighth Wonder of the World. The canal operates as a ship elevator using three sets of water-filled chambers (locks) to raise and lower ships from one level to another. The ships must move between sea level (the Pacific or the Atlantic) to the level of Gatun Lake in Panama (26 meters above sea level) and then sail the channel through the Continental Divide. Per command of the canal authority, ships move through the locks slowly. Since the clearance between the ship and lock walls are very small, ships are tethered-pulled and controlled by locomotives on the port (below left) and starboard (below right) sides of the ship in a highly synchronized manner (below center, video clip).

For nearly a century, the Panama Canal has accommodated a wide range of ship types and sizes and is reported to handle nearly 5% of global trade. In the same period, ship design and design-objectives have also gone through major evolution: thousands of deadweight tons (DWT) vessels have grown to hundreds of thousands of DWT giants. In recent times, ships have been designed with a beam (width) restriction of “Panamax” (that is, it cannot exceed the maximum width of the canal locks). Now larger container ships cannot pass through and in July 2006 Panama voted to widen its Canal. This large-scale expansion project will have many challenges and will definitely be a feat of Extreme Engineering.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on the Panama Canal and extreme engineering. For related curricula, visit the Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering Education, Ocean Engineering Education, Civil Engineering Education and Construction Engineering Education disciplinary communities.