System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC!Othmar Ammann, Civil Engineer
March 26, 1879 - September 22, 1965
Born on March 26, 1879, in Switzerland, Othmar Ammann was a renowned civil engineer whose designs include: George Washington Bridge (opened October 24, 1931); Bayonne Bridge (opened November 15, 1931); Bronx-Whitestone Bridge (opened April 29, 1939); Throg's Neck Bridge (opened January 11, 1961); Verrazano Narrows Bridge (opened November 21, 1964).
Ammann received his engineering education at the Polytechnikum in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1902. He came to the United States in 1904 and was naturalized in 1924. He spent most of his career working in New York City. He started out working for Gustav Lindenthal but by 1925 had been appointed bridge engineer to the New York Port Authority and his design for a bridge over the Hudson River had been accepted in preference to one developed by Lindenthal. Ultimately, this became the George Washington Bridge. Under Ammann's direction, it was completed six months ahead of schedule for less than the original $60 million budget.
He served (1925–39) with the Port of New York Authority and was its director of engineers from 1937 to 1939. An authority on bridges, he participated in either the designing or the construction of Hell Gate, , Triborough, Bronx-Whitestone, and Verrazano-Narrows (at its opening in 1964, the longest and heaviest suspension bridge in the world) bridges in New York City, and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. He died on Sept 22, 1965, at the age of 89.
