Excerpt:
"My father was an architect," he explains, "but my professional choice was civil engineering because it covers a much wider range than architecture - bridges, towers, roads, dams - and gives greater scope." But despite the options and freedom that the profession offered, Leonhardt very rapidly demonstrated his interest in bridges. He studied civil engineering in his home town - at Stuttgart University - and after four years studying for his diploma, won an exchange scholarship to the USA to continue his graduate studies. The scholarship was to Purdue University in West-Lafayette, Indiana. While he was there he spent some time working with his uncle on the design of a river bridge in Detroit, but more significantly, when he first arrived in New York, he immediately arranged meetings with David Steinman and Othmar Ammann. Talking to the two greatest living bridge designers in the USA only strengthened his interest in bridges, and this experience was to stand him in good stead when he graduated.
Annotation:
Feature article from Bridge Design and Engineering magazine. Includes a listing of the designers significant structures.