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The Great Pyramid of Giza was ranked as the
tallest structure on Earth for more than 43 centuries and was only surpassed in
the nineteenth century. It was made up of 2 million blocks of stone (each weighing
two tons). Modern Egyptologists believe the labour force was around 20,000.
The City of Petra was built between the 3rd
and 4th century BC and includes more
than 800 carved monuments into the rock itself, attributed to the Nabateans during their
occupation of the site.
The Great Wall of China 6,400 kilometers
(4,000 miles) long was built for defense purposes. Up to 1.8 million people
were forced to join the ranks of the laborers. The wall can be seen from
Earth's orbit.
The Colosseum was of huge scale and
complexity. Much of the detail was worked out before the building started
and based on a set of architectural principles developed in the construction
of other amphitheatres.
Through a period of several hundred years cities in Western Europe strived
to out do each other in creating the ultimate cathedral. The buildings
were vast caverns of space, with towering walls of stained glass windows
pouring colored light in, and transmitting information. Cities poured in
vast resources in competition for pilgrims.
The master-builder of
Chartres outlined new principles, like
"flying buttresses" that supported the slender walls and allowed
more stained glass (the star attraction). They also used sophisticated
technologies like human powered (treadmill) cranes to deliver stone masonry
to heights of 200 ft. The cathedral would inspire all the great architects of the 13th century.
Machu Picchu
was a fortress city of the ancient Incasat at a remarkable elevation of
2,350 m (7,710 ft). It sat in a high saddle between two peaks
NW of Cuzco, Peru. It is a stupendous achievement in urban planning, civil
engineering, architecture and stone masonry. It comprised of 200 buildings,
mainly residences, with temples, storage structures and other public
buildings. About 1,200 people lived in, most of them women, children, and
priests. The structures are built of massive blocks of granite cut with
bronze or stone tools, and smoothed with sand. The blocks fit together
perfectly without mortar. The Incas were master stone-masons, crafting walls
so tight fitting that it is impossible to slip a piece of paper between
them.
The Taj Mahal
was
built by a workforce of 20,000 over 20 years. Over 1,000 elephants were used to transport
building materials during the construction. The mausoleum is 57 m (190 ft)
square in plan and the outer dome is nearly 61 m (200 ft) in height. The Taj
forma an unequal octagon and the architectural design uses the interlocking
arabesque concept, in which each element stands on its own and perfectly
integrates with the main structure.
By 1901
Manchester became a major industrial city
the population had risen from an estimated 32,200 in 1801 to over 1 million
by 1850, and to over 2 million people by 1901. It was a leader in
engineering technology and the manufacture of machinery for textile
production. Yet, it was landlocked, all goods were transported by road or
rail to Liverpool docks. Liverpool tolls and harbour dues were prohibitive
to profitability. A ship canal was feasible. Equipment included over 100
steam excavators, 7 earth dredgers, 6,300 railway wagons, 173 locomotives,
124 steam cranes and a workforce of 16,000 men and boys. Several major
engineering feats were accomplished to deal with the several railway lines
which crossed the canal. Many bridges had to be reconstructed to allow
headroom for large ships to pass beneath. Volume of goods passed peaked in
1974 making it one of the busiest freight canals.
Kiel Canal, 98 km (61 mi) long, connecting the North Sea with the Baltic Sea
was built to facilitate movement of the German fleet, the canal was widened
and deepened so large oceangoing ships could pass through. This made it
extremely strategic and perpetuated the arms build up to the First World
War. An average of
519 km (280 mi) is saved by using the Kiel Canal and is the world`s
busiest artificial waterway.
The Suez
Canal 160 km (100 mi) long was built in 1859-1869 by Egyptian workers, drafted at the rate of
20,000 every 10 months. Another extremely strategic waterway at the centre
of several major conflicts in the 20th century.
The Panama
Canal 64 km (40 mi) posed major engineering challenges, such as damming a
major river and digging a channel. It required 9,000 workers and the heavy equipment included 4,000 flatcars,
200 locomotives, and 100 steam shovels.
The
Trans-Siberian Railway was the largest construction in the world
in terms of construction speed (built in stages over 12 years), length of 7500 km
(4500 mi),
volume of work completed, and difficult building conditions.
Due to the tragic collapse of the Tay Bridge, the
Firth of Forth bridge, completed in 1890,
was heavily over-constructed in an attempt to regain the public's
confidence. It was a daring design and when completed, it was the longest
span in the world.
Brooklyn Bridge built 1893. The project
faced enormous challenges with the depth of the footings required
underwater. Special watertight pressure chambers were created on the
riverbed to create the footings. This resulted in the injury and deaths of
workers as the 'bends' phenomenon, common to divers, was not understood.
The Golden Gate Bridge
completed in 1937 is 4,200
ft long and the main suspension span was a world record that stood for 27
years. The bridge's two towers rise 746 ft above the bridge. It was built
in 4 years.
The Millau bridge over the River Tarn in the Massif Central mountains is
more than 300m (984ft) high. The bridge spans the valley of the River Tarn,
a 2.5 km wide gorge. The bridge has cost 390 million euros ($517m) to build.
The bridge was built by the same company that built the Eiffel Tower.
The
Aswan
High Dam was built in the 1960s. It contains 18 times the
material used in the Great Pyramid of Cheops. The Dam is 11,811 ft long,
3,215 ft thick at the base and and 364 ft tall. Today it provides
irrigation and electricity for the whole of Egypt.
The
Gateway Arch in St. Louis is 630 ft high and 630 feet wide at the
base. Construction
began in February 12, 1963, and was finished on October 28, 1965.
The CN
Tower is the world's tallest building at 550 metres (1,800 ft) and it took
1,537 workers 24 hours a day, 5 days a week for 40 months to complete.
The Statue of Liberty was given to the United States as a gift by France in
honor of the first centennial. The Structural framework by Gustave Eiffel.
The lengthy construction project was of 8 years was plagued by financial
problems.
Hoover Dam in Arizona/Nevada,
USA, 1931-1936.
The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France
1888, was built as iron and steel technology was being pushed to its limits,
and opening up new avenues of building. This awe inspiring landmark is one
of the few structure that has stood the test of time.
The Great Eastern was the
largest steamship in the world in the second half of the 19th century.
Launched in 1858, the Great Eastern was unsurpassed in length until White
Star's Oceanic H in 1899 and not in displacement until Cunards Lusitania in
1906.
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay
first men on Everest in 1953.
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Introduction - Why List these Great Projects?
This page is dedicated to great and
memorable projects of the past. The lists
are all subjective and based on the site author's preference. If you have a
project that you think should be listed please let us know.
So How do you Define a Great Project?
A project that is successful beyond all expectations, a ground breaker, a
catalyst for change, and for other projects to follow in its footsteps. It
is recognized as a great achievement, or a
clear first in achieving a specific objective.
Criteria used for Determining
a Great Project
A project has to be discernable as a project with a clear objective upfront, predefined by a
degree of planning, and led by a recognized leader (project manager). It has
to be brought in an specific time frame, or is just faced with many
challenges along the way like the lack of key resources, or physical
obstacles.
Project Categories
The projects have been divided
into the following categories to avoid comparing dissimilar projects:
-
Great Structural Projects
(historical)
-
Great Projects Related to
Transportation
-
Great Structural Projects
(modern, post 18th century)
-
Great Engineering
Projects
-
Great Expedition or
Journey Projects
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Military Projects
(Campaigns and Battles)
Great
Structural Projects (historical)
This category covers ancient wonders and structures like the pyramids, buildings,
and towers including the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The list is
very subjective as few of these wonders (the project output) remain today,
and details about the projects are scant and only now coming to light through
archaeology. The most astonishing fact about these projects is the scale of
the deliverable (the construct itself) considering the main resource
available was human capital. However, with many of
these projects there was little regard for the welfare of the project team
(laborers):
The Great Pyramid of Giza reaches a height of
146 m (481 ft). There are a number of construction method theories of how it
was built, in terms of the approach in getting the blocks to site, and
the construction workforce. Initially it was estimated that the workforce
required 100,000 slave workers for 20 years. More recent evidence suggests
it was a paid workforce working when the Nile river was flooded and
agricultural activity suspended. It was supported by a project
infrastructure with accounting and management skills. If it took 25
men to transport a 1.5-ton stone block then it required a workforce of
300,000 on site and 60,000 off-site.
The Hanging Gardens of
Babylon were constructed with massive walls 25 m (80 ft) thick that were stepped to form the terraces
of a structure that was 122 m wide x 122 m long (400 x 400 ft) and 30 m
(80 ft)
high. The garden was sloped like a hillside and thickly planted with trees
of every kind, and hidden water machines supplied water from the river.
At
Giza the workforce was divided into crews
of approximately 2,000 and then sub-divided into named gangs of 1,000:
graffiti show that the builders of the third Giza pyramid named themselves
the 'Friends of Menkaure' and the 'Drunkards of Menkaure'. These gangs were
divided into phyles of roughly 200. Finally the phyles were split into
divisions of maybe 20 workers, who were allocated their own specific task
and their own project leader. Thus 20,000 could be separated into efficient,
easily monitored, units and a seemingly impossible project, the raising of a
huge pyramid, became an achievable ambition.
Source:
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/pyramidworkforce.htm
Also worth noting is the Egyptian's approach to pyramid building was based
on trial and error, or prototyping. This is exemplified by the Bent Pyramid
at DAHSHUR, clearly experimental,
with two different slope gradients for the sides at the lower and upper
levels.
The Statue
of Zeus at Olympia where the base of the statue was about 6.5 m (20 ft) wide
and 1.0 meter (3 ft) high. The height of the statue was 13 m (40 ft),
equivalent to a modern 4-story building. The Olympic Games, in honor of the
King of the gods, were first started in 776 BC and were held at the shrine
to Zeus. Zeus had a scepter of a multicolored alloy of rare metals. He was
crowned with an eagle's head symbolizing his rule over the earth. His right
hand supported a life-size statue of Nike, the goddess of victory, and the
stool beneath his feet was made of two gold lions. His hair, beard, and
drapery were made of gold, and his unclothed flesh—head, hands and feet—was
rendered in burnished ivory which was regularly anointed with olive oil to
prevent cracking.
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was almost square, 125 m (411 ft) and
bounded by 36 columns. The top formed a 24-step pyramid surmounted by a
four-horse marble chariot with base dimensions of about 40 m x 30 m (120 ft
x 100 ft). The total height was 45
m (140 ft).
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was
approximately 80 m x 130 m (260 ft x 430 ft) in plan. The 127 columns in
total were 20 m (66 ft) high with Ionic capitals and carved circular sides.
Artemisia decided that no expense was to be spared in the building of the
tomb and she sent messengers to Greece to find the most talented artists of
the time as well as hundreds of other craftsmen.
The Colossus of
Rhodes which stood 45 m (150 ft) high and upon a 12 m (50 ft) pedestal near
the harbor mole, was constructed in 12 years. Although the statue has been
popularly depicted with its legs spanning the harbor entrance so that ships
could pass beneath, it was actually posed in a more traditional Greek
manner. The Statue of Liberty is roughly of the same size but built 2000
years later.
The total
height of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, including the foundation, was 117 m
(384 ft), equivalent to a 40-story modern building, phenomenally high. It guided sailors into
the city harbor for 1,500 years and was the last of the six lost wonders to
disappear. A shaft in the internal
core lifted fuel for the fire used during the night otherwise a mirror
reflected sunlight during the day, and this could be seen more than 50 km
(35 mi) off-shore. Like the structure of an early twentieth century
skyscraper there were 3 stages. The building was constructed of marble
blocks with lead mortar. The lowest level was probably more that 60 m (200)
ft in height and 30 m (100 ft) square with a large spiral ramp that allowed
materials to be pulled to the top in horse-drawn carts. A statue of Poseidon adorned the summit of the
building. It is likely that like many other ancient buildings, it was the
victim of earthquakes.
 
Also worthy of an important mention are the following projects where a high
level of precision was involved, not just in the construction but the
positioning itself, for example, Stonehenge was a huge calendar and the
stones had to line up precisely with celestial events.
-
Stonehenge in England, built in several
stages from 2800 - 1800 BC
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Petra, the rock-carved city in Jordan,
6th century BC
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Parthenon in Athens, Greece, 477 to 438
BC
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Great Wall of China, circa 221-206 BC
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Colosseum in Rome, circa 70s.
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Mayan Temples
at Tikal, 700-900
-
Angkor Wat
in Cambodia, 1113-1150
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Cathedral of
Chartres, France 1194 to 1260
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Machu Picchu, Inca city
in Peru, circa 1400s
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Taj Mahal, India 1631-1654
Stonehenge in England consists of an outer circle of 30
upright sacred "blue" stones, 4.1 m (13.5 ft), each weighing 25 tons were
transported 438 km (300 mi). An inner circle of Standing Stones up to
7 m (22 ft) high, weighing up to 45 tons each, were moved about 25 miles
using sledges and ropes as transportation by water would have been
impossible. Today's calculations show that it would have taken 500 men using
leather ropes to pull one stone, with an extra 100 men needed to lay the
huge rollers in front of the sledge.
The Parthenon in Athens, Greece enjoys the reputation of being the most
perfect Doric temple ever built. The dimensions of the temple at the top
step are 30.9 m x 69.5 m (101 ft x 230 ft). Construction was completed 9 years later. Apart
from the limestone foundations and the ceilings and wooden doors, the Temple
was built entirely of marble, even its roof tiles. Some of the original
financial accounts survive, and show that the largest single expense was
transporting of the stone from Mount Pentelicus, about 16 km from Athens, to
the Acropolis.
Over time the projects evolved so human capital was augmented by the power
of large beasts and early machines.
The
Mayan Temples at Tikal were built without the use of the cartwheel or metal
tools. The Maya developed their own mathematics, using a base number of
twenty, and even had a concept of zero. The site consists of 6 temples the
tallest reaching 64 m (208 ft).
Angkor Wat in Cambodia is a temple within a moat and an outer wall 3.6 km
(2.2 mi) long. Within are three rectangular galleries, each raised above
the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers, the
central rises to a height of 65 m (213 ft) above the ground, surrounded by four more.
These evolved from the single brick tower and took nearly 30 years to build.
Sandstone blocks were carefully to fitted together, but vertical joints made
the walls very unstable as no mortar was used, just a good fit, weight and
gravity which was thought sufficient. But one dislodged stone near the
base could bring the wall down.
Great Projects Related to Transportation
This category covers structures related to transportation like routes (canals, roads, rails)
and structures like bridges and tunnels. There is a clear evolution in scale
and scope of these structures over time, sometimes in very short periods
like that of the First Industrial Revolution:
-
Canals
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Bridgewater Canal, 7 km (4 mi), first
modern canal in UK, 1759-1761
-
Leeds and Liverpool Canal, 204 km (127 mi), longest canal in UK, 1777-1812
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Kiel Canal, 98 km (61 mi) long, 1887–95
-
Manchester
Ship Canal, 58 km (36 mi) long, 1887-1894
-
Suez Canal in Egypt,
160 km (100 mi) long, extremely strategic 1859-1869
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Panama Canal,
64 km (40 mi) long, extremely strategic 1904 to 1914
Although canals have been around for thousands of years canals became a
primary form of transport at the outset of the industrial revolution in the
UK (circa 1750). Through a relatively short period of time canals
transformed commerce in the UK Initially, built using laborers, the advent
of mechanized equipment like steam shovels changed the approach.
The
Leeds and Liverpool is the longest canal in
Britain forming a through route between the Irish Sea and the North Sea.
Vessels 60 ft long, 14 ft wide and 3.5 ft deep can pass through it's
92 locks reaching a height of 487.5 ft above.
Within a
century canal building had evolved to the point were significant canals were
attempted in strategic locations around the world. Notably, this included the Suez Canal 160 km (100 mi) and then
the Panama Canal 64 km (40 mi) at a huge cost.
Suez Canal under construction in Egypt a major
construction success. Completed in 10 years the dimensions were 22 m in
bottom width, 58 m in surface width, and a depth of 8 m. The canal
cut through 3 lakes that make up almost 30 km of the total length. It was
opened in 1869.
The building of the Panama Canal was challenged
by the elevation of 26 m (85 ft) above sea level, requiring a complex system
of locks. Initially, the French abandoned the project after they had spent over
20 years on it and
$260m. The US took over and spent $380m to complete it.
Although fixed tracks
vehicles had been around for hundreds of years railways became feasible when
new production techniques allowed the creation of robust cast iron tracks.
Railways became a primary form of transport well into industrial revolution
in the UK (circa 1820).
With
the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway the main
objective was to reduce the costs of transporting raw materials and finished
goods between Manchester, the centre of the textile industry and Liverpool,
the most important port in the north of England. The evolution of the
railway continued at a tremendous pace with transcontinental railways
completed in the USA in 1869, motivated in part to bind the Union together
during the strife of the American Civil War and accelerating the populating
of the West by white settlers. The majority of the Union Pacific track was
built by Irish laborers, veterans of both the Union and Confederate armies,
and Mormons who wished to see it pass through Ogden and Salt Lake City,
Utah. Mostly Chinese (coolies) worked for the Central Pacific. On June 4,
1876 an express train called the Transcontinental Express arrived in San
Francisco, California via the First Transcontinental Railroad only 83 hours
and 39 minutes after it left from New York City. Only ten years before the
same journey would have taken months overland or weeks on ship. in 1885 the
transcontinental railway was completed across Canada for security factors
and unify the country.
The Trans-Siberian Railway, despite the enormity
of the project, length of 9,289km (5,772 miles) was completed in 12 years to
provide a
continuous route from Moscow to Vladivostok across 8 time zones. It was
driven by fear of military invasion coming from the East (Japan).
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Bridges
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Firth of Forth
Bridge, cantilever railway, Scotland, 8,276 ft, 1890
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Brooklyn Bridge, suspension roadway,
NY, USA, 3,460 ft, 1893
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Golden Gate Bridge
in San Francisco, USA, 4,200 ft, 1937
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The Millau Road Bridge in France, 300 m
(984ft) high, 2.5 km (1.5 m) long, 2005
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Tunnels
The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel, was built in seven
months in 1844. Many railways had long tunnels and were also underwater.
British engineer Brunel built a footway tunnel under the Thames in 1843,
after an 18 year struggle with flooding. Also a submarine telegraph
cable was laid across the Straits of Dover in 1851. A 5-mile tunnel was
started in 1857 through the peaks of the Alps.
By the end of 19th century engineers had much
more experience of major tunneling works and major tunnel constructions
continued with the expansion of the London underground (under construction
below circa
1898). Today the system length is 408 km (253 mi) with 12 lines,
275 stations, and a daily ridership of 2.67
million.
After many false starts engineers began boring
trial
tunnels on the Channel, from both sides in 1881. Both the French and
English sides had improved tunnel boring machines. Tunnel construction was
abandoned by the English with a fear of a French invasion amongst the
British military.
Serious work was not started by both sides till 1987, and
the fixed link was opened in 1994, nearly 2 years late, and way over budget.
It measures 50 km (31 mi).
Great Structural Projects (modern, post 18th century)
This category covers structures like the buildings, dams, towers, and
statues.
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Buildings
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Crystal Palace, Sydenham, England 1853
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Empire State Building in New York City, USA,
1,252 ft, 1931
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Twin Towers, 1,368 ft, 1973
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Sydney Opera House in Australia
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Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
1,483 ft, 1998
The Crystal Palace was built at the height of
the industrial revolution for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London to
symbolize the industrial, military and economic superiority of the UK.
Designed by Sir Joseph Paxton in only 10 days it was a large iron and glass
modular structure with over a million ft of glass, a floor area of 770,000
sq ft.,1851 ft long, and 450 ft wide. It showcased over 13,000 exhibits that
were viewed by over 6,200,000 visitors.
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Dams
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Towers
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Statues
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Statue of Liberty in New York City, USA,
1884
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Statue of Cristo Redentor in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The sheer scale of these structures is astounding. For example, the amount
of concrete used to build the Itaipu Power Plant would be enough to build
210 football stadiums the size of Maracanã. It provides more power than 10
nuclear power stations and supplies 26% of the electrical power consumption
of Brazil and 78% of Paraguay, since 1984.
Great
Engineering Projects
This category covers various machines that pushed emerging technologies
to the limit to achieve a first. Typically, there were several competing
inventors/scientists who leveraged other inventions and scientific
breakthrough before them. Often it was difficult to determine a clear first
in achieving a specific objective as there may be several competing projects which created
a similar end
deliverable simultaneously, for example, the telephone or first powered
airplane (flight).
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First mechanical computer, 1840-1890
-
First ocean going iron
hull steamship, 1858
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First modern iron clad
battleship, 1862
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First telephone, 1876
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First manned powered flight,
1903
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First modern luxury transatlantic liner,
1912
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First electronic computer, 1943
-
First jet engine, 1943
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First intercontinental
weapon, 1943
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First atomic weapon, Manhattan project, 1945
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First satellite, Sputnik, 1957
-
First manned lunar landing, 1969
Great Expedition or Journey Projects
This category covers extraordinary journeys.
Military Projects
(Campaigns and Battles)
Until recently most military officers
also required some training in civil engineering. Winning battles was only
half the battle as important was choosing the battleground, how the battle
was going to be fought, and engineering of defenses. Troops had to got to a
battlefield, fed, and housed. |
