22/12/2021
We come back for our weekly series .
The esteemed personality this week:
Sir Benjamin Baker (31 March 1840 – 19 May 1907) was born in Keyford, which is now part of Frome, Somerset in 1840, was an eminent English civil engineer who worked in mid to late Victorian era.
At the age of 16, he became an apprentice at Messrs Price and Fox at the Neath Abbey Iron Works. He helped develop the early underground railways in London with Sir John Fowler, but he is best known for his work on the Forth Bridge. He made many other notable contributions to civil engineering, including his work as an expert witness at the public inquiry into the Tay Rail Bridge disaster. Later, he helped design and build the first Aswan dam.
He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1890 and in the same year the Royal Society recognised his scientific attainments by electing him one of its fellows. He served as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers between May 1895 and June 1896. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1899 and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1902.
Stay tuned for upcoming personalities around us.
Till then, stay home stay safe.
Team ACE, IIT Patna