Interesting Civil Engineering Facts

Civil Engineering is one of the oldest and largest branches of engineering. It deals with the design, planning, maintaining, construction, surveying, supervising the construction or infrastructure and maintenance.

Here are some of the best, amazing and most interesting civil engineering facts that will surprise you and you need to know are as follows,

1. Civil Engineering is the oldest branch of Engineering.
2. Imhotep is the first engineer in the world, who is known for designed and built the first pyramids in Egypt around 2700 B.C.
3. The largest wind turbine in the world is in Denmark, it is 720 feet tall.
4. The term civil engineering was born in the year 1770 as John Smeaton differentiate himself from military engineer to civil engineer.
5. John Smeaton constructed the Eddystone Lighthouse and was the first civil engineer.
6. Civil engineering has ancient roots from history with some of the earliest recorded engineering projects dating back to ancient civilizations such as Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Greeks.
7. Nora Stanton Blatch Barney was the first American woman to become a civil engineer in the year 1905.
8. Göbekli Tepe is famous for being the oldest temple in the world. The structure is the oldest temple in the world, and it dates to around 9000 BCE.
9. Sir Mokshagundam Vishveshvarya is the first engineer in India and one of the foremost civil engineers, He is also referred as the Father of Indian Engineering.
10. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and one of the only original seven wonders of the world that is still intact, although erosion has depleted its height by about 30 feet.
11. The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is a symbol of engineering excellence and innovative design. When it was completed in 1937, it was the longest and tallest suspension bridge in the world.
12. Civil engineers collaborate with architects, contractors, urban planners, environmental scientists, and other professionals to create holistic and well-integrated projects.
13. The Channel Tunnel is one of the greatest civil engineering projects of the 20th century; it has an ultimate design capacity of 600 trains per day each way under the English Channel.
14. The construction of Burj Khalifa began in the year 2004 and was completed in the year 2009 making it the tallest building in the world with over 2716.5 feet’s in height with over 160 stories.
15. The Great Wall of China is one of the largest construction projects ever undertaken and holds the distinction of being the longest as well.
16. Civil engineers play a very important role in maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructures such as bridges, roads, dams, water systems and much more.
17. Hirakud is the longest earthen Dam in the world and stands across the mighty river, Mahanadi, in the Sambalpur region of Odisha.
18. China’s Three Gorges Dam is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world.
19. At a cost of $150 billion, the International Space Station (ISS) is the most expensive thing ever constructed in the world.
20. The New York City has the most construction with the $40.8 Billion worth of construction starts tallied last year.
21. The Norwich University is the first civil engineering school in the United States established by Captain Alden Partridge I the year 1819.
22. Istana Nurul Iman Palace, the official residence of the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, is the largest constructed house in the world, spread over 2.15 Million square feet.
23. The Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge in China currently holds the record for the longest bridge in the world, coming in at a whopping 164km (104 miles) long.
24. Bhupen Hazarika Bridge is the longest bridge in India, over the River Brahmaputra, in Assam with 9.15 Km long.
25. Gustave Eiffel was a French civil engineer and an architect whose company designed and built the construction of the Eiffel Tower.
26. Natural stone is the most expensive of the retaining wall material choices for construction.
27. New York City is also popularly known as the City of Skyscrapers. The majority of skyscrapers in New York City are concentrated in Midtown and Downtown Manhattan.
28. China is the country which has most skyscrapers in the world with a whopping 3090 skyscrapers that are over 150 meters tall.
29. The American Society of Civil Engineers has the longest history of all national engineering societies in the United States.
30. The Laerdal Tunnel in western Norway is the longest road tunnel in the world. It takes about 20 minutes to pass through the tunnel.
31. The Gotthard base tunnel is the longest railway tunnel in the world with the total length of 57 kilometers.

Mahesh Vyas

I am Engineer and Web Developer. I made enggkatta.com to find the better solutions for our engineering community, help and provide the information about engineering and technology. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram.