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1997

Texas Commerce Bank Building
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: BuildingsEra: 1920-1929DateCreated: 1929JP Morgan Chase BuildingHoustonState: TXZip: 77002Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/project/texas-commerce-bank-building/Creator: Simpson, William E.

The tower was designed to rest on a continuous reinforced concrete mat, 4 feet thick, with the base of the slab 24 feet below street level.

What makes the Texas Commerce Bank Building revolutionary in the civil engineering world is not so much the building itself, but its foundation.  Initial studies for the type of foundation to be used began in the fall of 1927.  William E. Simpson, the building's chief structural engineer, suggested using a mat foundation, something new for Houston's multistory buildings.

YearAdded:
1997
Image Credit: Courtesy Wikipedia/Reagan Rothenberger Image Caption: The Texas Commerce Bank Building, now called the JP Morgan Chase Building, had a reinforced concrete mat foundation that was revolutionary at the time.Era_date_from: 1929
Lake Washington Ship Canal & Hiram M. Chittenden Locks
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Water TransportationEra: 1910-1919DateCreated: 1917Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and Carl S. English Jr. Botanical GardenZanesvilleState: WAZip: 98107Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/project/lake-washington-ship-canal---hiram-m-chittenden-locks/Creator: Chittenden, Hiram

After more than 50 years of contention and debate, dredging began in 1911 on an eight-mile channel connecting Puget Sound, Seattle's gateway to the Pacific, to two inland freshwater lakes, Lake Washington and Lake Union. With the completion of the Lake Washington ship channel and Chittenden locks, coal and logs from the interior had a dedicated water route to the ocean, and the city's 4 1/2 miles of coastal harbor burgeoned into 100 miles of commercial, industrial and recreational piers and wharves.  

YearAdded:
1997
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/gb_packards (CC BY-ND 2.0)Image Caption: Lake Washington ship channel and Chittenden locks allowed for the transport of coal and logs and revitalized the coastal harbor.Era_date_from: 1917
Walnut Street Bridge
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: BridgesEra: 1890-1899DateCreated: 1890Susquehanna RiverHarrisburdState: PAZip: 17101Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Walnut-Street-Bridge/Creator: Bollman, Wendel , Reeves, Samuel

The structure has two segments: an East Channel bridge consisting of four 175-foot spans and three 240-foot spans crossing from Harrisburg to City Island; and a West Channel bridge, consisting of seven 175-foot spans crossing from City Island to Wormleysburg.

With 15 truss spans totaling 2,820 feet, the Walnut Street Bridge is the finest and largest surviving example of the standardized Phoenix wrought-iron truss bridges produced from 1884 to 1923.

YearAdded:
1997
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/rjonesProject856 (cc-by-2.0)Image Caption: Walnut Street BridgeEra_date_from: 1890
Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Power GenerationEra: 1970-1979DateCreated: 1974Alpine WayKhancobanState: NSWZip: 2642Country: AustraliaWebsite: http://www.asce.org/project/snowy-mountains-hydo-electric-scheme/Creator: Hudson, William

The scheme virtually reverses the flow of the Snowy River from its natural course toward the ocean and directs it inland. The entire complex includes 16 dams, seven power stations (with a production capacity of 3,740,000 kilowatts), over 90 miles of tunnels, a pumping station, and 50 miles of aqueducts.

YearAdded:
1997
Image Credit: Courtesy Wikicommons/Ear1grey (CC BY-SA 3.0)Image Caption: Snowy hydro murray 1 machine hall floorEra_date_from: 1974
Northampton Street Bridge
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: BridgesEra: 1890-1899DateCreated: 1896Delaware RiverEastonState: NJZip: 18042Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/People-and-Projects/Projects/Landmarks/Northampton-Street-Bridge/Creator: Palmer, Timothy

The crossing of the Delaware River at Easton, Pennsylvania, provided a central link in travel from the northeastern seaboard to America's inland territories throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries. From 1806 to the mid-1890s, travelers used a landmark wooden structure built by noted bridge-builder Timothy Palmer. By the 1880s, however, Palmer's three-span covered bridge could no longer handle the demands of traffic generated by new trolley lines.

YearAdded:
1997
Image Credit: Public Domain (National Park Service)Image Caption: Northampton Street BridgeEra_date_from: 1896
Navajo Bridge
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: BridgesEra: 1920-1929DateCreated: 1929Marble CanyonPageState: AZZip: 86036Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Navajo-Bridge/Creator: Arizona Highway Department

Navajo Bridge spans Marble Canyon, 470 feet above the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park. It was considered the highest steel arch bridge in America when completed.

The Navajo Bridge (also known as the Grand Canyon Bridge) was built in 1929 by the Arizona Highway Department and provided a vital transportation link over the Grand Canyon between northern Arizona and southern Utah. Construction commenced by building on one side of the canyon, then on the other, until the two sides met in the middle.

YearAdded:
1997
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Frank Kovalchek (CC BY 2.0)Image Caption: Navajo BridgeEra_date_from: 1929
Grand Coulee Dam
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: DamsEra: 1940-1949DateCreated: 1941Columbia RiverGrand CouleeState: WAZip: 99133Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Grand-Coulee-Dam/Creator: Bureau of Reclamation

The massive Grand Coulee Dam, on the Columbia River, is the largest concrete structure in the U.S., the largest hydroelectric facility in the U.S., and the sixth-largest hydroelectric facility in the world. It provides irrigation for up to 1.1 million acres of agricultural lands and the hydroelectric complex maintains a generating capacity of 6.8 million kilowatts. It also serves as the primary flood control for the Columbia River basin (with a capacity of 5.18 million acre-feet of water) and provides recreational opportunities on the 150-mile-long Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake.

YearAdded:
1997
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr; //lucylu (CC BY-ND 2.0)Image Caption: Grand Coulee DamEra_date_from: 1941
Gilman Hall
Society: ACSMain Category: ChemicalSub Category: Cradles of ChemistryEra: 1910-1919DateCreated: 1917Gilman HallBerkeleyState: CAZip: 94720Country: USAWebsite: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/gilman.htmlCreator: Lewis, Gilbert , Howard, John Galen

Gilman Hall, built in 1916-1917, accommodated a growing College of Chemistry by providing expanded research and teaching facilities for faculty and students specializing in physical, inorganic and nuclear chemistry. Work performed at Gilman Hall helped advance the fields of chemical thermodynamics and molecular structure, and has resulted in multiple Nobel Prizes. The Hall is most famous for the work of Glenn T. Seaborg and his coworkers, which included the successful identification and production the element Plutonium. Seaborg received the Nobel Prize in 1951 for his accomplishments.

YearAdded:
1997
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Waqas Bhatti (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: Gilman HallEra_date_from: 1917
Deciphering the Genetic Code
Society: ACSMain Category: ChemicalSub Category: Frontiers of KnowledgeEra: 1960-1969DateCreated: 1961NIH Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research CtrBethesdaState: MDZip: 20892Country: USAWebsite: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/geneticcode.htmlCreator: Nirenberg, Marshall

In 1961, in the National Institutes of Health Headquarters (Bethesda, MD), Marshall Nirenberg and Heinrich Matthaei discovered the key to breaking the genetic code when they conducted an experiment using a synthetic RNA chain of multiple units of uracil to instruct a chain of amino acids to add phenylalanine. The uracil (poly-U) served as a messenger directing protein synthesis. This experiment demonstrated that messenger RNA transcribes genetic information from DNA, regulating the assembly of amino acids into complex proteins.

YearAdded:
1997
Image Credit: Courtesy Wikipedia/Infocan (CC BY-SA 3.0)Image Caption: Deciphering the Genetic CodeEra_date_from: 1961
Society: ASMEMain Category: Mechanical, RoadSub Category: Road TransportationEra: 1940-1949DateCreated: 1940US Marine Corps Air-Ground MuseumQuanticoState: VAZip: A 22134Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/history/landmarks/topics-m-z/road-and-off-road-transportation/-193-alligator-amphibian-%281940%29Creator: Roebling, Donald
The "Alligator" amphibian tractor is the progenitor of all amphibian assault vehicles used since 1941, a pioneer venture both in its design and the materials used in its construction. Donald Roebling, a grandson of Colonel Washington Roebling (designer of the Brooklyn Bridge), built an amphibian tractor to rescue victims of Florida's devastating hurricanes (particularly those in 1926, 1928, and 1932 that hit southern Florida).
YearAdded:
1997
Image Credit: Public Domain (US Marine Corps)Image Caption: An Alligator Amphibian on the slope of a Landing Craft Tank, armed with machine gunsEra_date_from: 1940
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Innovations

Herbert Dow in 1888 Photo courtesy of the Post Street Archives.

On January 4, 1891, Herbert H. Dow succeeded in producing bromine electrolytically from central Michigan’s rich brine resources. In the years that followed, this and other processes developed by Dow and the company he founded led to an increasing stream of chemicals from brines. The commercial…

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First Successful Commercialization of Radiation Chemistry

Founded in 1957, Raychem Corporation was the first company to successfully apply the new science of radiation chemistry to commercial use. This accomplishment led to the creation of tough new materials and high-performance products such as irradiated polyethylene insulated wire and heat-…

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North Island Main Trunk Railway

The North Island Main Trunk Railway permitted overland travel and development of the New Zealand hinterland. Built under challenging conditions and over difficult terrain, all cuts, fills, and tunneling were minimized by careful use of the topography and by innovative engineering. 

Over…

Read More
The "Alligator" amphibian tractor is the progenitor of all amphibian assault vehicles used since 1941, a pioneer venture both in its design and the materials used in its construction. Donald Roebling, a grandson of Colonel Washington Roebling (designer of the Brooklyn Bridge), built an amphibian… Read More
Deciphering the Genetic Code

In 1961, in the National Institutes of Health Headquarters (Bethesda, MD), Marshall Nirenberg and Heinrich Matthaei discovered the key to breaking the genetic code when they conducted an experiment using a synthetic RNA chain of multiple units of uracil to instruct a chain of amino acids to add…

Read More
Gilman Hall

Gilman Hall, built in 1916-1917, accommodated a growing College of Chemistry by providing expanded research and teaching facilities for faculty and students specializing in physical, inorganic and nuclear chemistry. Work performed at Gilman Hall helped advance the fields of chemical…

Read More
Grand Coulee Dam

The massive Grand Coulee Dam, on the Columbia River, is the largest concrete structure in the U.S., the largest hydroelectric facility in the U.S., and the sixth-largest hydroelectric facility in the world. It provides irrigation for up to 1.1 million acres of agricultural lands and the…

Read More
Navajo Bridge

Navajo Bridge spans Marble Canyon, 470 feet above the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park. It was considered the highest steel arch bridge in America when completed.

The Navajo Bridge (also known as the Grand Canyon Bridge) was built in 1929 by the Arizona Highway Department and…

Read More
Northampton Street Bridge

The crossing of the Delaware River at Easton, Pennsylvania, provided a central link in travel from the northeastern seaboard to America's inland territories throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries. From 1806 to the mid-1890s, travelers used a landmark wooden structure built by noted bridge-…

Read More
Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme

The scheme virtually reverses the flow of the Snowy River from its natural course toward the ocean and directs it inland. The entire complex includes 16 dams, seven power stations (with a production capacity of 3,740,000 kilowatts), over 90 miles of tunnels, a pumping station, and 50 miles of…

Read More
Walnut Street Bridge

The structure has two segments: an East Channel bridge consisting of four 175-foot spans and three 240-foot spans crossing from Harrisburg to City Island; and a West Channel bridge, consisting of seven 175-foot spans crossing from City Island to Wormleysburg.

With 15 truss spans totaling…

Read More
Lake Washington Ship Canal & Hiram M. Chittenden Locks

After more than 50 years of contention and debate, dredging began in 1911 on an eight-mile channel connecting Puget Sound, Seattle's gateway to the Pacific, to two inland freshwater lakes, Lake Washington and Lake Union. With the completion of the Lake Washington ship channel and Chittenden…

Read More
Texas Commerce Bank Building

The tower was designed to rest on a continuous reinforced concrete mat, 4 feet thick, with the base of the slab 24 feet below street level.

What makes the Texas Commerce Bank Building revolutionary in the civil engineering world is not so much the building itself, but its foundation. …

Read More

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