Remarkable Engineers From Riquet to Shannon

Engineering transformed the world completely between the 17th and 21st centuries. Remarkable Engineers tells the stories of 51 of the key pioneers in this transformation, from the designers and builders of the world's railways, bridges and aeroplanes, to the founders of the modern electronics and communications revolutions. The focus throughout is on their varied life stories, and engineering and scientific detail is kept to a minimum. Engineer profiles are organized chronologically, inviting readers with an interest in engineering to follow the path by which these remarkable engineers utterly changed our lives.

Part I. From Peter Paul Riquet to James Watt: Peter Paul Riquet (1604–1680); Sebastien le Prestre de Vauban (1633–1707); James Brindley (1716–1772); John Smeaton (1724–1792); James Watt (1736–1819); Part II. From William Jessop to Marc Brunel: William Jessop (1745–1814); Lazare Carnot (1753–1823); Thomas Telford (1757–1834); John Rennie (1761–1821); Sir Marc Isambard Brunel (1769–1849); Part III. From Richard Trevithick to Sadi Carnot: Richard Trevithick (1771–1833); Sir George Cayley (1773–1857); George Stephenson (1781–1848); Charles Babbage (1792–1871); Charles Vignoles (1793–1875); Sadi Carnot (1796–1832); Part IV. From Joseph Henry to Sir Joseph William Bazalgette: Joseph Henry (1797–1878); John Ericsson (1803–1899); Robert Stephenson (1803–1859); Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–1859); John Roebling (1806–1869); Sir Joseph William Bazalgette (1819–1891); Part V. From James Buchanan Eads to Alexander Graham Bell: James Buchanan Eads (1820–1887); William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) (1824–1907); Gustav Eiffel (1832–1923); George Westinghouse (1846–1914); Thomas Alva Edison (1847–1931); Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922); Part VI. From Ferdinand Braun to Heinrich Hertz: Ferdinand Braun (1850–1918); Hertha Ayrton (1854–1923); Charles Parsons (1854–1931); Granville Woods (1856–1910); Nikola Tesla (1856–1943); Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894); Part VII. From Rudolf Diesel to Guglielmo Marconi: Rudolf Diesel (1858–1913); Elmer Sperry (1860–1930); Wilbur Wright (1867–1912) and Orville Wright (1871–1948); Frederick Lanchester (1868–1946); Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937); Part VIII. From Peter Pal'chinskii to Vladimir Zworykin: Peter Pal'chinskii (1875–1929); Edith Clarke (1883–1958); Andrei Tupolev (1888–1972); John Logie Baird (1888–1946); Vladimir Zworykin (1889–1982); Part IX. From Dennis Gabor to Claude Shannon: Dennis Gabor (1900–1979); Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (1906–1966); Frank Whittle (1907–1996); William Shockley (1910–1989); Wernher von Braun (1912–1977); Claude Shannon (1916–2001).

Engineering transformed the world completely between the 17th and 21st centuries. Remarkable Engineers tells the stories of 51 of the key pioneers in this transformation, from the designers and builders of the world's railways, bridges and aeroplanes, to the founders of the modern electronics and communications revolutions.

Ioan James is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford and has had a distinguished career as a research mathematician. In recent years he has become interested in the history and development of scientific disciplines and the scientists involved. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1968. He is also the author of Remarkable Mathematicians, Remarkable Physicists, and Remarkable Biologists, all published by Cambridge University Press.