Fritz Leonhardt (12 July 1909 – 30 December 1999) was a German

structural engineer Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research List of structural elements, structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants. Their work takes account mainly of ...

who made major contributions to 20th-century bridge engineering, especially in the development of

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which wire rope, cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or wikt:stay#Etymology 3, stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, norm ...

s. His book ''Bridges: Aesthetics and Design'' is well known throughout the bridge engineering community.

Biography

Born in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

in 1909, Leonhardt studied at

Stuttgart University The University of Stuttgart () is a research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany with programs in Civil engineering, civil ...

and

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

. In 1934 he joined the German Highway Administration, working with

Paul Bonatz Paul Bonatz (6 December 1877 – 20 December 1956) was a German architect, member of the Stuttgart School and professor at the technical university in that city during part of World War II, and from 1954 until his death. He worked in many styl ...

amongst others. He was appointed at the remarkably young age of 28 as the Chief Engineer for the Cologne-Rodenkirchen Bridge. In 1954 he formed the consulting firm

Leonhardt und Andrä Leonhardt is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Andreas Leonhardt (1800–1866), Austrian musician * Brett Leonhardt (born 1982), Canadian ice hockey goaltender * Brian Leonhardt (born 1990), American football tight end * Carolin ...

, and from 1958 to 1974 taught the design of

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

and

prestressed concrete Prestressed concrete is a form of concrete used in construction. It is substantially prestressed (Compression (physics), compressed) during production, in a manner that strengthens it against tensile forces which will exist when in service. Post-t ...

at Stuttgart University. He was President of the University from 1967 to 1969. He received Honorary Doctorates from six universities, honorary membership of several important engineering universities, and won a number of prizes including the Werner von Siemens Ring, the Honorary Medal Emil Mörsch, the Freyssinet Medal of the FIP, and the Gold Medal of the

Institution of Structural Engineers The Institution of Structural Engineers is a British professional body for structural engineers. In 2021, it had 29,900 members operating in 112 countries. It provides professional accreditation and publishes a magazine, '' The Structural Eng ...

. In 1988, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) by the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

. Throughout his career, Leonhardt was as dedicated to research as to design, and his major contributions to bridge engineering technology included: *development of a launching system for

bridges, first used in his 1963 bridge over the

Caroní River The Caroní River is the second most important river of Venezuela, the second in flow, and one of the longest, from the Kukenan tepui through to its confluence with the Orinoco River. The name "Caroní" is applied starting from the confluenc ...

Ciudad Guayana Ciudad Guayana () (English: Guayana City) is a city in Bolívar State (Venezuela), Bolívar State, Venezuela. It stretches 40 kilometers along the south bank of the Orinoco, Orinoco river, at the point where it is joined by its main tributary ...

, Venezuela *the 'Hi-Am' anchor for cable stays, in collaboration with the Swiss firm B.B.R.V. *anchorages in prestressed concrete *experiments during the 1930s on steel

orthotropic deck An orthotropic bridge or orthotropic deck is typically one whose fabricated deck consists of a structural steel deck plate stiffened either longitudinally with ribs or transversely, or in both directions. This allows the fabricated deck both t ...

Major works

His major structures include the Cologne-Rodenkirchen Bridge, Stuttgart Television Tower, Hamburg's Alster-Schwimmhalle and various cable-stayed bridges in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

. He also worked on the design of several

cable-stayed bridges A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern o ...

abroad, including the Pasco-Kennewick bridge (1978) in the U.S., and the Helgeland Bridge (1981) in Norway.

Fritz Leonhardt Prize

This prize was established in 1999 on the 90th anniversary of Leonhardt's birth, to recognise outstanding achievements in structural engineering. The first prize was awarded to

Michel Virlogeux Michel Virlogeux (born 1946, Vichy, Allier, Auvergne) is a French structural engineer and bridge specialist. Career Virlogeux graduated from the ''École Polytechnique'' in 1967 and from the ''École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées'' in 1970. ...

. Subsequent winners have included Jörg Schlaich (2002), René Walter (2005), and William F. Baker (engineer) (2009)."William F. Baker Awarded Fritz Leonhardt Prize For Achievement In Structural Engineering"
. SOM.com. 2009-07-09. Retrieved on 2009-07-14

Bibliography

* Brücken / Bridges (4th edition), Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart (Germany), , 1994 (first published 1982). * Ponts/Puentes,

Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes The EPFL Press, formerly ''Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes (PPUR)'', is a Switzerland, Swiss independent Scientific literature, scientific publishing house and a university press affiliated with the École Polytechnique Fédéra ...

, Lausanne (Switzerland), , 1986.

Notes

External links

Fritz Leonhardt Symposium 2009 – University of Stuttgart
*
Bridge Design and Engineering: Fritz Leonhardt, Master of Bridges

Structures of Leonhardt, Andrä and Partners
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonhardt, Fritz IStructE Gold Medal winners Bridge engineers German civil engineers Structural engineers 1909 births 1999 deaths Werner von Siemens Ring laureates Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg 20th-century German engineers Engineers from Stuttgart