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Romanian engineer
„I knew it would do" - this was the reply that the great engineer Anghel Saligny gave a young man who approached him after the spectacular proof made on September 14th, 1895 on the bridge at Cernavoda: 15 heavy locomotives had passed thumping over the majestic metal construction, without the slightest fault occurring. The young man wanted to know what Saligny would have said and done... if the bridge would have collapsed, and his calm response illustrated the full confidence that the engineer had in his calculations, in his bold solutions and in his daring design and construction.
Engineering prominent figure of the XIXth century and the first two decades of the XXth century, Anghel Saligny performed extensive activities for over 40 years, bringing a crucial development of construction technology in the country. Born in the village Serbanesti (Galati county), under the dramatic conditions of a large flood, Anghel Saligny attended gymnasium at Focsani and high school in Potsdam, after which he enrolled at the University of Berlin, where he studied firstly astronomy. But he was attracted by the science of construction engineering, which, at that time knew a big boom. He moved in 1871 to the famous Polytechnic School in Berlin - Charlottenburg, which he successfully graduated and became a civil engineer at only 20 years old, in 1874. He came back home, as an engineer, from January 1st, 1876, at the Department of Bridges and Highways - just before our War of Independence. At that time of consolidation of the newly formed Romania, the state did not have the appropriate technical organization (Saligny was to bring an important contribution to it), so that many technical works were carried out by foreign concessionaires. An important work was the construction of the railway Ploiesti-Predeal, which sought to open a quick connection between the capital of the country and Brasov, instead of the old long way around through Bran. Granting of such construction to a foreign company required the appointment of qualified persons from the state administration to pursue execution. Young engineers Anghel Saligny and Elie Radu got this task. Then we find Anghel Saligny designing and building the bridges necessary on the line Adjud-Tg Ocna, including our first combined bridges road - rail line, also along the line Bîrlad-Vaslui. The first large bridge designed by Saligny, when he was only 28 years old, was the one of Cosmeşti over Siret – a double bridge road – rail, length of 430 meters, a work that has established him as an outstanding builder of bridges. He also made the tunnel from the valley Mostiştei. In 1884, Saligny was responsible for the study and construction of docks and warehouses of ports Galati and Braila, completed in 1889, which can still be seen today. He achieved here a technical first, this work being the first work of its kind in the world erected with prefabricated concrete elements. No doubt, the main technical work of Saligny is the bridge over the Danube at Cernavoda – included in the great railway complex Fetesti -Cernavoda. His project, in 1888, brought two important innovations: the new system with console beams for the bridge superstructure and as new construction material, the soft steel - instead of puddle iron, previously used in bridge decks. He had to lead a fierce battle with routinely technicians, required to accept these two innovations. But building the bridge at Cernavoda established after all, rightly, his famous bridge builder reputation. At that time it was the longest bridge of continental Europe (4088 meters length) and third in the world (having a central opening of 190 meters and four spans of 140 meters each). His work is cited in all treaties of bridges. In addition, Saligny exemplary organized the building of metal bridge decks in workshops in our country. He made considerable engineering facilities in Constanta, designed extensive land improvement works, particularly irrigation and flood recovery. In 1894, he was appointed professor of bridges in the National School of Bridges and Roads, led since 1881 by the engineer Gheorghe Duca. In 1897, he became a member of the Romanian Academy, and then its president for twice.
Mathematician George Titeica justly considered him as "one of the founders of Romanian engineering" while historian Nicolae Iorga, in one a of the admirable characterizations in the volume “People Who Were” showed that Saligny represented "one of the leaders of a prolific generation, one of the artists cluster to which we owe so much of what is and what can today's country ".
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diversas escrituras:
Saligny, Anghel
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Curriculum vitae
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* 1854
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Serbanesti, Galati, Romania
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nacido
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† 1925
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Bucuresti, Romania
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fallecido
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