Roebling, John Augustus (1806–1869)

German-born US civil engineer. From 1844 to 1845 he built an aqueduct across the Allegheny River, the first structure ever to be supported with wire cable. This success was followed in 1846 by a wire-supported suspension bridge over the Monongahela River and in 1848 by a series of aqueducts linking the Delaware River and the Hudson canal. In 1855 he completed the Niagara railway suspension bridge.

Born in Mühlhausen, he was educated in Berlin, and emigrated to the USA in 1831, settling near Pittsburgh. He worked as an engineer on several river canal projects where he pioneered the development of wire rope for barges and the machinery needed to use it. In 1867 he was chosen as chief engineer for a bridge across the East River to connect Manhattan and Brooklyn. While making a survey of the project, one of his feet was accidentally crushed. Despite medical attention, he died of tetanus. The Brooklyn Bridge was completed by his son, Washington Augustus Roebling.