BIOGRAPHY:
Born: Dec. 15, 1832, Dijon, FRA
Died: Dec. 27th, 1923
Nationality: French
Occupation: Architect, Engineer
Gustave Eiffel Background
The Eiffel family was well off for many many years, making a comfortable living as tapestry-makers, and were known as master merchants. His father broke the family tradition, and ran off to join the army at age 16. That dropped his social status, and he married a middle class woman, Gustave Eiffel’s mother. She was a hard worker, and very smart. Gustave took after his mother, and the two were much alike. They stayed close throughout their lives. Gustave was smart like his mother, but not as studious. While attending the Lycée Royal, Gustave was bored and thought the school was small almost to the point of being torture. He also found the classes a waste of time. It was not until his last two years at school that Eiffel found his place - not in engineering yet, but in history and literature. His grades improved quite a bit, and he graduated near the top of his class. Eiffel went on to attend Sainte Barbé College in Paris, to learn for the entrance exams to the French Ivy League equivalent, École Polytechnique. Eiffel loved Paris and spent all his free time swimming, watching plays, and visiting the Louvre. Paris made school livable. When he wasn’t accepted into the Polytechnique, Eiffel wasted no time with anger or sadness and instead attended the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures. He continued to surround himself with the beauty that is and was Paris, and eventually declared his major in college as chemistry. He was offered a job by his uncle, but he was forced to turn it down. Because that was really his only job in chemistry, he accepted a job engineering, and 2 years later, he got his first big job. He was to design a metal bridge to span the Garonne River. He was just 25 then.
What made Gustave Eiffel
