Gustave Eiffel

Hello, my name is Gustave Eiffel. I am an engineer, which means I love to design and build things. I was born a long time ago, on December 15th, 1832, in a beautiful French city called Dijon. Even when I was a little boy, I was always busy building with my toys. I was so curious about how big buildings and bridges could stand up all on their own without falling down. This curiosity led me to Paris, the capital of France, where I went to a special school to study engineering and learn all about making strong, amazing structures.

My first big job as an engineer was very exciting. In the year 1858, I was asked to help build a very, very long bridge in a city named Bordeaux. This bridge was for trains to cross over a wide river. It was a huge challenge. I got to use metal, called iron, in new ways to make the bridge super strong so it could hold the heavy trains. It was like putting together a giant, powerful puzzle. After this bridge was finished, people started to know me for my work with iron, and I was very proud of that.

I want to tell you a secret about a very famous statue. Around the year 1881, my good friend, a sculptor named Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, was working on a giant gift for America. It was the Statue of Liberty. She was beautiful, but she was also so big and heavy. My friend needed my help to make sure she would be strong enough to stand tall forever. So, I designed her skeleton. It was not made of bones, of course. It was a strong iron frame hidden inside the statue that holds her up and keeps her safe from strong winds and all kinds of weather.

My most famous project of all came next. In 1889, the city of Paris was getting ready for a huge party called the World's Fair, and I wanted to build something incredible that the whole world would remember. I designed a giant tower made completely of iron. It was going to be taller than any building in the world at that time. At first, some people in Paris did not like my idea. They thought it looked strange and called it an ugly metal skeleton. But I knew it would be beautiful and special. I thought of it as a giant metal lace dress for the city of Paris to wear for the fair. It was hard work, but we built it piece by piece, reaching for the sky.

I lived to be 91 years old, and I was lucky enough to see my tower become a famous and beloved symbol of Paris and all of France. I am so happy that my work showed the world the beautiful and strong things we can build with engineering. Today, people from all over the world still come to visit my tower, ride the elevator up, and see the amazing view from the very top.