Engineering Legends

Engineering Legends: Great American Civil Engineers is a 2005 book by engineer Richard Weingardt. The book features a list of 32 engineering legends from the 1700s to the present, including Fazlur Khan, Hal Iyengar, Tung-Yen Lin, Benjamin Wright, and Fred Severud.

Contents

• Engineering legends
• Empire Makers
• Environmental Experts
• Transportation Trendsetters
• Builders of Bridges
• Structural Trailblazers
• Daring Innovators
• Movers and Shakers
• Educators Extraordinaire
• References

Weingardt describes how the ingenuity of these engineers, many of whom were immigrants to the United States, revolutionized the world, and how people take so many things for granted which were made possible because of the genius of these engineers. The book discusses the fact that while the engineering achievements are regularly recognized, the engineers themselves are rarely discussed. These engineers should become common household names.

The book explores the personal lives and professional accomplishments of its subjects, providing an in-depth look at the people behind these achievements. The book also illustrates the diversity surrounding these engineers, such as their differing backgrounds, their reasons for becoming engineers, the obstacles they faced, and their work in different disciplines of civil engineering. In the foreword, Henry Petroski describes the book as a work that "cannot help but inspire engineers, future engineers, and all who benefit (and will continue to benefit) from their work".