John Smeaton, FRS, (8 June 1724 – 28 October 1792) was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist. Smeaton was the first self-proclaimed civil engineer, and often regarded as the "father of civil engineering".
He was associated with the Lunar Society.
| John Smeaton | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of John Smeaton, with the Eddystone Lighthouse in the background |
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| Born | 8 June 1724 Austhorpe, Leeds, England |
| Died | 28 October 1792 (aged 68) Austhorpe, Leeds, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Civil engineer |
Law and physics
Smeaton was born in Austhorpe, Leeds, England. After studying at Leeds Grammar School he joined his father's law firm, but left to become a mathematical instrument maker (working with Henry Hindley), developing, among other instruments, a pyrometer to study material expansion and a whirling speculum or horizontal top (a maritime navigation aid).He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1753, and in 1759 won the Copley Medal for his research into the mechanics of waterwheels and windmills. His 1759 paper "An Experimental Enquiry Concerning the Natural Powers of Water and Wind to Turn Mills and Other Machines Depending on Circular Motion" addressed the relationship between pressure and velocity for objects moving in air (Smeaton noted that the table doing so was actually contributed by "my friend Mr Rouse" "an ingenious gentleman of Harborough, Leicestershire" and calculated on the basis of Rouse's experiments), and his concepts were subsequently developed to devise the 'Smeaton Coefficient'.
Over the period 1759-1782 he performed a series of further experiments and measurements on waterwheels that led him to support and champion the vis viva theory of German Gottfried Leibniz, an early formulation of conservation of energy. This led him into conflict with members of the academic establishment who rejected Leibniz's theory, believing it inconsistent with Sir Isaac Newton's conservation of momentum.
Civil engineering
Recommended by the Royal Society, Smeaton designed the third Eddystone Lighthouse (1755–59). He pioneered the use of 'hydraulic lime' (a form of mortar which will set under water) and developed a technique involving dovetailed blocks of granite in the building of the lighthouse. His lighthouse remained in use until 1877 when the rock underlying the structure's foundations had begun to erode; it was dismantled and partially rebuilt at Plymouth Hoe where it is known as Smeaton's Tower. He is important in the history, rediscovery of, and development of modern cement, because he identified the compositional requirements needed to obtain "hydraulicity" in lime; work which led ultimately to the invention of Portland cement.Deciding that he wanted to focus on the lucrative field of civil engineering, he commenced an extensive series of commissions, including:
- the Calder and Hebble Navigation (1758–70)
- Coldstream Bridge over the River Tweed (1762–67)
- Improvements to the River Lee Navigation (1765–70)
- Perth Bridge over the River Tay in Perth (1766–71)
- Ripon Canal (1766–1773)
- Smeaton's Viaduct, which carries the A616 road (part of the original Great North Road) over the River Trent between Newark and South Muskham in Nottinghamshire (1768–70)
- the Forth and Clyde Canal from Grangemouth to Glasgow (1768–77)
- Banff harbour (1770–75)
- Aberdeen bridge (1775–80)
- Peterhead harbour (1775)
- Nent Force Level (1776–77)
- Harbour works at Ramsgate (retention basin 1776-83; jetty 1788-1792)
- Hexham bridge (1777–90)
- the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal (1782–89)
- St Austell's Charlestown harbour in Cornwall (1792)
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