Podcasts about Washington Roebling

Did you know the Brooklyn Bridge was built over 140 years ago and was once the longest suspension bridge in the world? Join Anna, Leo, and Purcy as they uncover the incredible story of its construction and the remarkable people behind it. Washington Roebling and his wife, Emily, overcame immense challenges, including dangerous working conditions and illness, to bring this engineering marvel to life—and there's even a bit of mystery involving an old drawing and a white feather in this story. Let's dive into the past and explore the wonders of the Brooklyn Bridge! About Honest History Honest History creates award-winning books, magazines, and this show for young historians across the world. Our mission is to inspire kids to create a positive impact on history themselves. Learn more at honesthistory.co and @honesthistory. Credits This episode was narrated by Nikki Bon and JoAnn Schinderle, written by Heidi Coburn, and produced by Robot Pirate Media. Original theme music was written and recorded by Michael Dayvid. More Enjoy this episode? Share with your friends and don't forget to rate and review. See you next time!

Viewers were introduced to Emily Roebling on the second season of The Gilded Age. Now learn the entire story of the Roebling family -- father, son, wife -- the engineers responsible for the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. As a special bonus episode to end the year, enjoy this 2023 show from the Bowery Boys podcast archives, looking at the extraordinary individuals responsible for this 19th century marvel. Greg and Tom walk through the history, then chat with Kriss Roebling, Washington and Emily Roebling's great-great grandson, who leads specialty tours of the bridge today. The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge was a technological wonder when it opened in 1883.  The story of its construction, which took over 14 years, is an odyssey of passion, ingenuity and tragedy.   In the end, it was Emily Roebling, wife of Washington Roebling who, in the face of her husband's debilitating illness, dedicated herself to completing the project in the male dominated world of engineers and contractors. Visit the Bowery Boys website for images and other information

El puente de Brooklyn es uno de los avances de ingeniería más notables del siglo XIX, inspirando la construcción de otros puentes. Washington Roebling, su ingeniero jefe, tuvo una vida marcada por éxitos y tragedias familiares, incluida la construcción del puente Golden Gate después de su muerte. Síguenos y visita nuestro sitio oficial: https://www.instagram.com/eldollop https://twitter.com/eldollop https://www.facebook.com/eldolloppodcast http://eldollop.com

The Brooklyn Bridge, which was officially opened to New Yorkers 140 years ago this year, is not only a symbol of the American Gilded Age, it's a monument to the genius, perseverance and oversight of one family.This episode is arranged as a series of three mini biographies of three family members -- John Roebling, his son Washington Roebling and Washington's wife Emily Warren Roebling. Through their stories, we'll watch as the Brooklyn Bridge is designed, built and opened in 1883.PLUS: One more Roebling! Greg and Tom are joined in the studio by Kriss Roebling, the great, great-grandson of Washington and Emily Roebling. He shares his own surprising family stories -- and brings in some extraordinary artifacts from his family's past!Visit our website for more pictures and information about this showFURTHER LISTENING:That Daredevil Steve Brodie!The Queensboro Bridge and the Rise of a BoroughCrossing to Brooklyn: How The Williamsburg Bridge Changed New YorkThe George Washington Bridge

Once proclaimed “The Eighth Wonder of the World”, the iconic Brooklyn Bridge was constructed between 1869 and 1883 to span the East River and connect what used to be the two independent cities of New York and Brooklyn. Applying masterful engineering, fortitude and determination, Chief engineers John and Washington Roebling used new technological innovations to plan and build what is now one of America's greatest National Landmarks. In this episode of Your History Your Story, we will be speaking with historian, Jeff Richman, author of “Building the Brooklyn Bridge”. Jeff will share stories about challenges, victories and disasters encountered by the engineers and thousands of skilled and unskilled laborers who toiled for fourteen years to build the great Brooklyn Bridge. Photo(s): Jeff Richman Music: "With Loved Ones" Jay Man Your History Your Story Social Links: https://linktr.ee/yhyspodcast Join Your History Your Story mailing list: https://mailchi.mp/8fcb73f13927/yhys-signup-for-mailing-list To purchase "Building the Brooklyn Bridge" or learn more about Green-Wood Cemetary: https://www.green-wood.com #yhys #podcast #njpodcast #history #storytelling #jamesgardner #youhaveastorytoo

“Dietro ogni grande opera possiamo trovare la devozione sacrificale di una donna” Una donna, Emily che ha lavorato anni per realizzare il sogno di due uomini e solo dopo si è decisa a realizzare i suoi. Come dice in una lettera a suo figlio del 1898: “Ho più cervello, buon senso e know-how in generale di quanto ne abbiano due ingegneri, civili o incivili, e se non fosse stato per me il ponte di Brooklyn non avrebbe mai avuto il nome Roebling in qualche modo collegato ad esso!” Ed è proprio così: seppur la malattia ha messo fine alla sua vita, il suo ricordo rimarrà per sempre impresso nel cemento e nell'acciaio di uno dei ponti più significativi della storia: il ponte di Brooklyn. Sitografia: -       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Warren_Roebling -       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Roebling -       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Roebling -       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gouverneur_K._Warren#Post-war -       https://ilfoglietto.it/il-foglietto/6778-emily-warren-roebling-la-donna-che-ha-completato-il-ponte-di-brooklyn -       https://www.britannica.com/biography/Emily-Warren-Roebling -       https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mayflower-ship -       https://www.ilmioviaggioanewyork.com/blogs/news/la-donna-che-ha-completato-il-brooklyn-bridge -       https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2014/06/emily-warren-roebling.html -       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Bridge -       https://www.rainews.it/archivio-rainews/media/New-York-24-maggio-1883-inaugurazione-Ponte-di-Brooklyn-manhattan-05ecfcd6-ace6-458d-970e-c43e0afab1d3.html#foto-1 -       https://www.focus.it/tecnologia/architettura/la-vera-storia-del-ponte-di-brooklyn-e-degli-elefanti -       https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/obituaries/overlooked-emily-warren-roebling.html   Bibliografia: -       M. E. Weigold, “Silent Builder: Emily Warren Roebling and the Brooklyn Bridge”, 2019 -       E. W.Roebling “A Wife's Disabilities", 1899 -       T. E. Wood “The Engineer's Wife”/ “La Donna di Brooklyn”, 2022. GRAZIE a mio marito Matteo per aver prestato la voce a Abraham S. Hewitt

Eine Brücke über den East River zwischen Manhattan und Brooklyn galt lange Zeit als unmöglich. Mit der Entwicklung von Hängebrücken im 19. Jahrhundert änderte sich das, doch der 600 Meter breite Meeresarm in New York blieb eine gewaltige Herausforderung. Die Brücke, die der deutsche Auswanderer John A. Roebling plante und die ab 1869 gebaut wurde, geriet zu einem der spektakulärsten Brückenbauprojekte der Geschichte. Die Brooklyn Bridge war für zahlreiche Superlative verantwortlich: Sie war die mit Abstand längste Hängebrücke ihrer Zeit, die erste Brücke in den USA, die im Caissonverfahren gebaut wurde und die erste elektrisch beleuchtete Brücke. Und der Brückenplaner? Der starb noch vor Baubeginn und auch seinem Sohn und Nachfolger Washington Roebling, kosteten die Arbeiten an der Brücke die Gesundheit. So kam es, dass seine Frau Emily Roebling über die längste Zeit der Fertigstellung die Bauleitung übernahm. Wir sprechen in der Folge ein wenig über die Geschichte des Brückenbaus, wie Brückenpfeiler im Wasser verankert wurden und stellen fest, dass sich Richard bislang noch nicht so richtig für Brücken interessiert hat. //Aus unserer Werbung Du möchtest mehr über unsere Werbepartner erfahren? Hier findest du alle Infos & Rabatte: https://linktr.ee/GeschichtenausderGeschichte NEU: Wer unsere Folgen lieber ohne Werbung anhören will, kann das über eine kleine Unterstützung auf Steady tun. Wir freuen uns, wenn ihr den Podcast bei Apple Podcasts rezensiert oder bewertet. Für alle jene, die kein iTunes verwenden, gibt's die Podcastplattform Panoptikum, auch dort könnt ihr uns empfehlen, bewerten aber auch Euer ganz eigenes Podcasthörer:innenprofil erstellen. Wir freuen uns auch immer, wenn ihr euren Freundinnen und Freunden, Kolleginnen und Kollegen oder sogar Nachbarinnen und Nachbarn von uns erzählt!

How does literature nourish science? When does physics become poetry? A conversation of cosmic proportions, as two masterful storytellers- Neil Gaiman and Carlo Rovelli - discuss life, the universe and everything. Carlo Rovelli is a theoretical physicist who has made significant contributions to the physics of space and time. He has worked in Italy and the US, and is currently directing the quantum gravity research group of the Centre de physique théorique in Marseille, France. His books Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, Reality Is Not What It Seems and The Order of Time are international bestsellers which have been translated into forty-one languages. His most recent book is There are Places in the World Where Rules are Less Important than Kindness. Neil Gaiman is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including Neverwhere, American Gods, The Ocean at the End of the Lane and the Sandman series of graphic novels. Neil Gaiman is credited with being one of the creators of modern comics, as well as an author whose work crosses genres and reaches audiences of all ages. He is a prolific creator of works of prose, poetry, film, journalism, comics, song lyrics, and drama. The event is chaired by Erica Wagner. Erica was born in New York City and is a widely-acclaimed author and critic. She is the author of Gravity: Stories, Ariel's Gift: Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and the Story of Birthday Letters and Seizure, a novel; she is the editor of First Light: A Celebration of Alan Garner. Twice a judge of the Man Booker Prize, she was literary editor of The Times for 17 years and is now contributing literary editor for Harper’s Bazaar as well as writing for the Financial Times, the Economist and the New York Times. She was the recipient of the Eccles British Library Writer’s Award in 2014, and Chief Engineer, her biography of Washington Roebling, builder of the Brooklyn Bridge, was published by Bloomsbury in 2017. Recorded via zoom in December 2020. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

In our Season 1 finale we conclude our two part episode on the Brooklyn Bridge, and later in the episode we speak with Unit Managing Director with Mott McDonald, Chris Mealing, about his history as a bridge Engineer and how he sleeps at night! In part one of our Brookyn Bridge double feature we discussed some people who were a little crazy, and a little cool, but mostly both: The Roeblings. This family of Engineers were largely responsible for the design and construction of the bridge, which would be the first to span the East River. In part one we extensively discussed John and his son Washington Roebling, but only just touched on our first female Engineer of the podcast: Washington’s wife Emily Roebling. Despite the fact that Emily was not officially recognized as an Engineer at the time Emily completely took over the project after her husband fell ill with decompression sickness from an accident in the caissons. Emily managed contractors and construction officials over technical details while also managing the board of directors and the mayor of New York over commercial management of the project, and would be the first woman to address the American Society of Civil Engineers. After the completion of the bridge Emily would also go on to obtain a degree in Law from NYU. We also get into some greater detail on the construction of the caissons and the technical specs behind the bridge including the many redundancies built into the design. John Roebling had famously said that even if the cables snapped the bridge would not fall, which would prove to be particularly important when some of the materials would turn out to be counterfeit due to contractor negligence and lead to cables snapping in the 1980s. Later we speak with Chris Mealing, Unit Managing Director for Mott MacDonald. Chris began his career as a bridge engineer. We talk about the projects Chris is most proud of and how the scope and complexity of engineering projects have changed as the tools available to Engineers have become much more advanced: “We can brute force stuff today that would’ve had to have been done elegantly 30 or 40 years ago” Image Gallery: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Learn more at: MeasuredInMetric.com Edited by: Astronomic Audio Contact us: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

This week we’re discussing a topic that keeps Vivan up at night: bridges. In the first half of this two episode topic we’ll be learning about the world’s first steel wire suspension bridge, the iconic Brooklyn Bridge. The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge is a tale of three engineers, John Roebling, his son Washington Roebling, and his son’s wife Emily Warren Roebling. Prior to the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge from 1869 through 1883 there was no crossing from Brooklyn to Manhattan and all commuting was done by ferry. The local government would enter into a partnership similar to what we call a P3 today (Public Private Project), wherein a private entity would build the bridge, the government would own the bridge, and revenue from a toll booth on the bridge would be split between the private entity and the government. John Roebling was selected as the chief engineer for the project because of his prior bridge work and his company’s revolutionary iron and steel rope, and the strength of these materials would make the 1.8km long bridge possible. Unlike many of our engineering heroes in the 1800s John Roebling was not self-trained, and despite his impressive track record and strong materials his plans for the bridge would be met with great skepticism. To put the minds of concerned engineers at ease Roebling would host a page turn, essentially locking 7 skeptical engineers and industry professionals in a room and reviewing every page of the plans until they were satisfied, not unlike what Vivian does today! Ultimately the industry was satisfied but getting the local government on board with his plans would take more convincing and a group would be organized to tour four of his previous bridges. Ultimately they were convinced of the viability of his plans and construction would begin shortly afterwards. While surveying areas where the bridge would meet with the road system John Roebling would have his foot crushed by a ferry. This stubbornly tough engineer would agree to having his toes amputated but insisted upon having the procedure completed without anesthetic. As a believer in hydrotherapy he would attempt to treat the surgical wound by pouring water on his feet day and night, but ultimately he would succumb to infection and die just 28 days later. Upon his death his son Washington Roebling would be assigned to take over the project and despite being only 32 years old at the time he was enormously respected for being not only technically competent and great with details, but also much humbler than his father. Washington Roebling and his wife Emily Warren Roebling had previously been sent to Europe to research the use of pressurized caissons as a method for building bridge foundations underwater. These workshop-diving-bell hybrids would be the cause of many deaths during the construction of the bridge, primarily as a result of decompression sickness which had not yet been discovered. Washington Roebling himself would suffer a grave accident as the result of the caissons and decompression sickness when a fire broken out in one of the caissons in 1870 and he would go down into the caisson himself to help fight the fire and direct the firefighting efforts. He would experience some aches and pains coming back out and would head back down the next day with the fire still burning. The result of his repeated long trips would be crippling decompression sickness that left him bed ridden for the remaining 13 years of his life. At this point his wife Emily Warren Roebling would step up to become what we would today call the Field Engineer. She would become the eyes and ears of her husband, and was involved in every step of the construction, including working with the local government to justify the overrun of the original $5M budget and the request of an additional $8M to complete the project. The first female engineer of our podcast would be honoured at the unveiling of the bridge: “The bridge was an everlasting monument to the sacrificing devotion of a woman and her capacity for that higher education from which she has been so long and too long been disbarred” Next episode in our season finale we’ll be speaking with an actual bridge engineer about the science of how it was constructed and how we construct bridges today. Image Gallery: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Learn more at: MeasuredInMetric.com Edited by: Astronomic Audio Contact us: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Chief Engineer: Washington Roebling, The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge – Erica Wagner – 9781620400524 – Bloomsbury – Paperback – 384 pages – $18 – February 5, 2019 – ebook versions available at lower prices “A welcome tribute to the persistence, precision and humanity of Washington Roebling and a love-song for the mighty New […]

Author Erica Wagner, a New York City native, celebrates the story of constructing the Brooklyn Bridge in her book, Chief Engineer: Washington Roebling, The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge. Nearly 150 years after being built, the Brooklyn Bridge remains a wonder. Notably, its iconic image is still displayed on tourist brochures, film posters, and even Italian chewing gum wrappers. In fact, many consider the Brooklyn Bridge one of the greatest symbols of 19th-century progress, and how it was made is a dramatic tale of vision, innovation, and endurance in the face of extraordinary odds. Although she never knew Roebling personally, Wagner, at age sixteen, fell in love with the bridge’s engineer Washington Roebling, carrying his picture in her wallet for decades and even to this day! However, writing his biography, though a great pleasure, required her to understand not only literature but also to become steeped in engineering and history. When David McCullough published The Great Bridge in the early 1970s, he was surprised no one had written a biography of the great Washington Roebling. Yet, at that time, even McCullough did not have access to the writings of Roebling. Those would not come to light until the early 2000s when they were discovered in the archives of Rutgers University in Trenton, New Jersey, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York. So, Wagner, being a lifelong aficionado of Roebling, seized the opportunity to study his memoir, which was very intertwined with the life of his tyrannical father John A. Roebling, the bridge’s designer. Finally, out of Wagner’s intensive research emerged the biography, Chief Engineer. Washington Roebling was frustrated all his life by the confusion between himself and his father John Roebling, a great and famous engineer who got the contract to build the Brooklyn Bridge. John A. Roebling’s invention of steel wire cables made the family’s fortune and allowed him to build suspension bridges. Early in the project, John Roebling had an accident and died 10 days later of tetanus, leaving the mammoth construction project to his son Washington. When he became sick with “caisson disease,” Washington and his wife Emily became close business partners by default with Emily acting as his intermediary at the engineering site. The original four cables, now over 135-years-old, are still holding up the Brooklyn Bridge. Washington Roebling’s great passion was not engineering but was, in fact, geology and mineralogy, and his mineral collection was donated to the Smithsonian Museum. QUOTES FROM WAGNER “All of his life, his father’s reputation got in the way of him, and people were always confusing him and his father to his great annoyance.” “Washington Roebling didn’t have a choice; he was raised to be his father’s lieutenant.” “Any structure is only as good as the maintenance devoted to it. Infrastructure has to be maintained…you don’t just pay for it once.” BUY Chief Engineer: Washington Roebling, The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge  RECOMMENDATIONS A children's nonfiction book about bridges, complete with illustrations, photos, and historical material: BUY 13 Bridges Children Should Know by Brad Finger Our podcast with Brad Finger discussing several children's nonfiction books he has written for Prestel Publishing Original movies made by Thomas Edison from the train crossing the Brooklyn Bridge https://bit.ly/2U1RYaV https://bit.ly/2tpMefe For weekly updates, join our email list! Follow us on social media! Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube Special thanks… Music Credit Sound Editing Credit  

Have you ever walked or driven across a bridge and wondered just who made it and how it was made? Or have you, like me, marveled the architectural and engineering feats of New York City’s bridges, subways, and tunnels? Did you know that much of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge was actually monitored by a woman? Emily Warren Roebling stepped in for her husband, Washington Roebling when he fell ill during the construction of the bridge, and she saw it to completion. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/history-in-ten/support

Crowded, chaotic and dangerous. Human traffic jams plagued the Brooklyn Bridge this holiday season, leading one resident to call for a tax on tourists crossing the famed overpass. Many complain that the bridge’s jammed promenade is at an all-time worse, but an expert on the bridge’s history claims the landmark has been experiencing overcrowding since its opening. We’ll be hearing from a transit buff and an acclaimed author on ways to alleviate the congestion.

The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the iconic landmarks of the New York skyline; it has stood for more than 130 years, taking fourteen dramatic years to complete. In Chief Engineer, Erica Wagner tells the riveting story of the bridge’s construction and of Washington Roebling, the man who built it, one of the America’s most distinguished engineers – from military hero to pioneering civil engineer.

In a space of less than a mile, seven bridges link Newcastle with Gateshead including the distinctive shape of the Tyne Bridge. But what kind of human endeavour goes into imagining and realising such man-made wonders? Newcastle University's Sean Wilkinson, Erica Wagner author of Chief Engineer, and architect Simon Roberts look at the bond between the visionaries and the grafters with Rana Mitter and an audience at Sage Gateshead. Erica Wagner is the author of Chief Engineer: The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge, a biography of civil engineer Washington Roebling. Erica is former literary editor of The Times, the author of several books and is a lecturer in English and Creative Writing at Goldsmith's University of London. Sean Wilkinson is a Reader in Structural Engineering at Newcastle University whose research includes work on resilient communities, the design of high rise buildings and earthquakes. Architect Simon Roberts works for Wilkinson Eyre who designed the Gateshead Millennium Bridge and has worked solely on bridge projects for the past decadeProducer: Debbie Kilbride

The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge changed New York City forever, connecting the suburb to Manhattan, and establishing the borough as a vital part of the city's life and culture. It's easy to look at a bridge now and say, “Of course that bridge had to be built.” But why, exactly, did city leaders want to connect Brooklyn and Manhattan, how did the people who lived there at the time feel about it, and how did elephants help make the bridge a landmark? Today, my guest is Ariel Viera from Urbanist, who you may remember walked us through the history of Central Park in episode 14. Also, there are river pirates. Ariel lives and breathes the history of New York, and the stories he has about the Brooklyn Bridge will have you looking at the city in a whole new way. BBB: Before the Brooklyn Bridge In the mid-1800s, there were two separate cities: Brooklyn and New York (what we now call Manhattan). And to get from one to the other, you'd have to take a ferry. But as Ariel told me, New York's traffic troubles go back to before the time of taxicabs: The East River was full of ships going from port to port, and a ferry had to contend with that marine traffic. And there were many ferries going back and forth, from street to street, in Brooklyn Heights and Manhattan, and the system became a bit cumbersome. So, Brooklyn actually proposed building a bridge which, because of the width of the East River, was not going to be easy. How John Roebling designed the Brooklyn Bridge The East River is actually wider than the Thames, known for its many bridges, so the engineering problem of spanning the river while still allowing boat traffic was a vexing one. Enter architect John Roebling, who had created a steel wire much stronger than what had been used for bridges before. He had the brilliant idea to use that wire to build a bridge strong enough to reach from shore to shore. But what's interesting is that even if the engineering required innovation, many criticized the bridge's design as too plain. But as Ariel tells me, that was actually done on purpose, and the story behind that decision is fascinating. The building of the bridge The ironic tragedy of John Roebling's life is that it was cut short before the Brooklyn Bridge was built. He was actually crossing the East River on a ferry when a cargo load fell on his leg, and he would later die of complications from the injury. His death came in 1869, the same year construction began on the bridge. Luckily, his son Washington was establishing himself as an architect, and he was able to take over the project. But the building of the bridge took all the way from 1869 to 1883 and wasn't without incident. As Ariel told me, there were problems with workers going so deep into the river to secure the bridge, and Washington Roebling himself suffered paralysis from going so deep when the caissons were being placed. But the Roebling family endured, and you'll want to hear what Washington's wife, Elizabeth, did next. Making its mark As Ariel tells me, the first few years of the bridge were tumultuous. People flocked to it to cross it, others didn't trust that it was safe. Shortly after its opening, a woman on the bridge screamed that the bridge was collapsing, and 12 people died in the stampede that ensued. That brought out P.T. Barnum, who marched his elephants across the bridge to demonstrate how safe it was. And those are just a few of the stories Ariel told me in this really fun, funny history lesson about the Brooklyn Bridge. You'll have to listen if you want to hear about those pirates. Outline of This Episode [3:32] Ariel's biggest surprise covering NYC [6:31] How Ariel became interested in the Brooklyn Bridge [7:30] Before the Brooklyn Bridge [10:32] What went into the design [12:24] The building of the Brooklyn Bridge [15:27] Incidents during the building process [16:42] The story of Elizabeth Roebling [17:43] What happened when it first opened [22:05] How the bridge became a part of New York life [26:52] The bridge's secret compartments [28:07] East River pirates Resources & People Mentioned Urbanist Ariel on Facebook Ariel on Twitter Ariel on Instagram Ariel's video at the Player's Club Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge My post about Hamilton and Trinity Church Connect With Stephanie stephanie@historyfangirl.com https://historyfangirl.com Support Stephanie on Patreon Featuring the song “Places Unseen” by Lee Rosevere More info and photographs for this episode at: https://historyfangirl.com/the-brooklyn-bridge/

Erica Wagner, former literary editor of The Times, tells the extraordinary story of Washington Roebling and the building of the Brooklyn Bridge at 5x15. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

“Chief Engineer” tells the story of Washington Roebling, the engineer known for building one of the most iconic American structures, the Brooklyn Bridge. “Chief Engineer” reveals that his father, John-a renowned engineer who made his life in America after humble beginnings in Germany-was a tyrannical presence in Washington's life, so his own adoption of that career was hard won. A young man when the Civil War broke out, Washington joined the Union Army, building bridges that carried soldiers across rivers and seeing action in many pivotal battles, from Antietam to Gettysburg-aspects of his life never before fully brought to light. Safely returned, he married the remarkable Emily Warren Roebling, who would play a crucial role in the construction of the unprecedented Brooklyn Bridge. It would be Washington Roebling's grandest achievement, but by no means the only one. Erica Wagner was literary editor of The Times for seventeen years, and she is now a contributing writer for New Statesman and consulting literary editor for Harper's Bazaar, as well as writing for many publications in Britain and the United States.