This collection of essays has been gathered in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the International Bridge Conference® which is conducted annually in the city of bridges, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. The spirit of the International Bridge Conference is captured in the words of the many contributors to this book. In this small book, notable bridge engineers and bridge architects from the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Canada, Japan, Peoples Republic of China and the US have offered personal “reflections” of singular or multiple events which have occurred during their careers in bridge construction and design during the 20th and 21st centuries. The reader is invited to relive some of these experiences and with the authors celebrate the achievements of these contributors and the bridge engineering community at large.
The Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania was founded in 1880 and is the second oldest engineering society in the United States, predated only by the Boston Society of Civil Engineers. Earliest members included Andrew Carnegie and bridge engineer Gustav Lindenthal. Since its founding, the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania has continued its tradition of pursuing an educational and scientific mandate; this book has been authored in response to that mandate.
About the Author
Thomas is the (retired) Chief Bridge Engineer of Gannett Fleming, Inc., and currently Instructor of Civil Engineering of Carnegie Mellon University. Thomas was the Editor of the book “Reflections – of the greatest engineers and architects of the 20th and 21st centuries”.