John Smeaton

About John Smeaton

Who is it?: Civil Engineer
Birth Day: June 08, 1724
Birth Place: Austhorpe, Leeds, England, British
Died On: 28 October 1792(1792-10-28) (aged 68)\nAusthorpe, Leeds, England
Birth Sign: Cancer
Resting place: St Mary's Church, Whitkirk
Occupation: Civil engineer
Awards: Copley Medal (1759)

John Smeaton Net Worth

John Smeaton was born on June 08, 1724 in Austhorpe, Leeds, England, British, is Civil Engineer. John Smeaton was an English engineer and a physicist, famously known as the ‘Father of Civil Engineering’. He was a master at his work and a self-proclaimed Civil Engineer, an eminent forerunner of his profession. Although initially he pursued the legal profession like his father, later he decided to be an instrument maker. He gained most of his training and scientific knowledge through reading and attending the meetings of Royal Society of London. He constructed bridges, canals and harbors in addition to his works of mechanical engineering. He devised new ways for construction; whether it was the material he used for building or the technique to strengthen the rigidity of the object. Through his dedication and genuine efforts, his every project emerged as a masterpiece, a passionate work of art. He transformed the work of engineering, which was considered as a handicraft work, to a scientific process of experimenting and devising mechanisms in architectural work. He was the first person to coin the term ‘civil engineers’ and also established the first ever engineering society in the world. His earnest work is an inspiration for everyone; to be fearless of the choices they make in life and work with dedication for their dreams to come true.
John Smeaton is a member of Engineers

💰John Smeaton Net worth: $9 Million

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Biography/Timeline

1750

Smeaton was born in Austhorpe, Leeds, England. After studying at Leeds Grammar School he joined his father's law firm, but left to become a mathematical instrument maker (working with Henry Hindley), developing, among other instruments, a pyrometer to study material expansion and a whirling speculum or horizontal top (a maritime navigation aid). In 1750, his premises were in the Great Turnstile in Holborn.

1753

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1753, and in 1759 won the Copley Medal for his research into the mechanics of waterwheels and windmills. His 1759 paper "An Experimental Enquiry Concerning the Natural Powers of Water and Wind to Turn Mills and Other Machines Depending on Circular Motion" addressed the relationship between pressure and velocity for objects moving in air (Smeaton noted that the table doing so was actually contributed by "my friend Mr Rouse" "an ingenious gentleman of Harborough, Leicestershire" and calculated on the basis of Rouse's experiments), and his concepts were subsequently developed to devise the 'Smeaton Coefficient'. Smeaton's water wheel experiments were conducted on a small scale model with which he tested various configurations over a period of seven years. The resulting increasing efficiency in water power contributed to the Industrial Revolution.

1755

Recommended by the Royal Society, Smeaton designed the third Eddystone Lighthouse (1755–59). He pioneered the use of 'hydraulic lime' (a form of mortar that will set under water) and developed a technique involving dovetailed blocks of granite in the building of the lighthouse. His lighthouse remained in use until 1877 when the rock underlying the structure's foundations had begun to erode; it was dismantled and partially rebuilt at Plymouth Hoe where it is known as Smeaton's Tower.

1759

In his 1759 paper "An Experimental Enquiry Concerning the Natural Powers of Water and Wind to Turn Mills and Other Machines Depending on Circular Motion" Smeaton developed the concepts and data which became the basis for the Smeaton coefficient, the lift equation used by the Wright brothers. It has the form:

1761

Employing his skills as a mechanical Engineer, he devised a water engine for the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in 1761 and a watermill at Alston, Cumbria in 1767 (he is credited by some with inventing the cast-iron axle shaft for water wheels). In 1782 he built the Chimney Mill at Spital Tongues in Newcastle upon Tyne, the first 5-sailed smock mill in Britain. He also improved Thomas Newcomen's atmospheric engine, erecting one at Chacewater mine, Wheal Busy, in Cornwall in 1775.

1771

Smeaton died after suffering a stroke while walking in the garden of his family home at Austhorpe, and was buried in the parish church at Whitkirk, West Yorkshire. He is highly regarded by other Engineers, having contributed to the Lunar Society and founded the Society of Civil Engineers in 1771. He coined the term civil Engineers to distinguish them from military Engineers graduating from the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. The Society was a forerunner of the Institution of Civil Engineers, established in 1818, and was renamed the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers in 1830. His pupils included canal Engineer william Jessop and Architect and Engineer Benjamin Latrobe.

1782

Smeaton is considered to be the first expert witness to appear in an English court. Because of his expertise in engineering, he was called to testify in court for a case related to the silting-up of the harbour at Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk in 1782. He also acted as a consultant on the disastrous 63-year-long New Harbour at Rye, designed to combat the silting of the port of Winchelsea. The project is now known informally as "Smeaton's Harbour", but despite the name his involvement was limited and occurred more than 30 years after work on the harbour commenced.

1789

In 1789 Smeaton applied an idea by Denis Papin, by using a force pump to maintain the pressure and fresh air inside a diving bell. This bell, built for the Hexham Bridge project, was not intended for underwater work, but in 1790 the design was updated to enable it to be used underwater on the breakwater at Ramsgate Harbour. Smeaton is also credited with explaining the fundamental differences and benefits of overshot versus undershot water wheels. Smeaton experimented with the Newcomen steam engine and made marked improvements around the time James Watt was building his first engines (c. late 1770s).

1994

Smeaton is one of six civil Engineers depicted in the Stephenson stained glass window, designed by william Wailes and unveiled in Westminster Abbey in 1862. A memorial stone commemorating Smeaton himself was unveiled in the Abbey on 7 November 1994, by Noel Ordman, President of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers.

2003

In 2003 Smeaton was named among the top 10 technological innovators in Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950. He is mentioned in the song "I Predict a Riot" (as a symbol of a more dignified and peaceful epoch in Leeds history; and in reference to a Junior School House at Leeds Grammar School, which lead singer Ricky Wilson attended) by the indie rock band Kaiser Chiefs, who are natives of Leeds.

2008

John Smeaton Academy, a secondary school in the suburbs of Leeds adjacent to the Pendas Fields estate near Austhorpe, is named after Smeaton. He is also commemorated at the University of Plymouth, where the Mathematics and Technology Department is housed in a building named after him. A viaduct in the final stage of the Leeds Inner Ring Road, opened in 2008, was named after him.