Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
For more than two decades now, systems engineer Josephine Santiago-Bond has made significant contributions to NASA in the development of its space exploration technologies. She was born to Filipino parents who were pursuing their doctorate studies in the United States at the time. When she was just a few months old, Josephine -- along with... Continue Reading →
March 5, 1890 Alan Brebner, a Scottish civil engineer who left a considerable legacy when it came to the development of lighthouses, died in Edinburgh at the age of 63. “He had a ready and retentive memory, and was expert in methods of calculation,” noted his obituary in the London-based monthly magazine The Engineer.... Continue Reading →
December 31, 1932 A railroad bridge crossing the Ohio River between the city of Henderson, Kentucky, and Vanderburgh County, Indiana, was formally opened. This 12,123-foot (3,695)-long structure was constructed by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) to replace the bridge that this company had built in the vicinity during the 1880s. That original bridge, which... Continue Reading →
December 19, 1903 New York City’s Williamsburg Bridge, which crosses over the East River, was formally opened. This structure was the first major suspension bridge in the United States to have steel towers rather than masonry towers. At the time of its debut, the 7,308-foot (2,227-meter)-long structure also enjoyed the distinction of being the world’s longest suspension... Continue Reading →
December 10, 2009 A cable-stayed swing bridge in Dublin, the capital city of the Republic of Ireland, was formally opened to pedestrians. Emer Costello (born in 1962), the lord mayor of Dublin, officiated at these inaugural festivities. The bridge was first opened to motor vehicle traffic the next morning. This 403.5-foot (123-meter)-long structure crosses the... Continue Reading →
As a senior astronautical engineer at NASA, Irma Aracely Quispe Neira (widely known as Aracely Quispe) has made several noteworthy contributions to space and flight operations on behalf of that agency. Her accomplishments to date include becoming the first woman of Latin American descent to help oversee and lead three separate NASA missions. These major... Continue Reading →
August 12, 2004 In Greece, a bridge crossing the Gulf of Corinth (an inlet of the Ionian Sea) was opened to the public. This bridge serves as a link between the towns of Rio (also known as Rion) on the Pelponnese peninsula and Antirrio on the country’s western mainland. The Rio-Antirrio Bridge carries the Greek... Continue Reading →
May 24, 1915 Civil engineer Arthur Hale applied for a patent for his design of a road interchange focused on facilitating the flow of automobile traffic. Hale, who resided in the village of Rowlandsville in Maryland, characterized this design as one that contained “certain new and useful improvements in street crossings.” Hale’s proposed interchange consisted... Continue Reading →
On April 19, 2021, the autonomous NASA helicopter Ingenuity (nicknamed Ginny) lifted off the surface of Mars for what turned out to be a flight of 39.1 seconds. While decidedly brief, this ascent was also historic because it made Ingenuity the first aircraft to carry out a powered, controlled extra-terrestrial flight. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory... Continue Reading →
May 2, 1906 Thomas F. Airis, who would become director of the District of Columbia’s Department of Highways and Traffic (a predecessor of the present-day District Department of Transportation) was born in the town of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He earned his degree in, civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin. In 1929, Airis joined the... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 