Born in Paris, Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel's family included artisans and timber and coal merchants. He was educated at the Lycée Royal in Dijon and the College Sainte-Barbe in Paris, and he graduated from the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in 1855.

Gustave Eiffel

Early in his career Eiffel worked for a company that produced steam engines. In 1858, the company was granted a contract to erect a railway bridge in Bordeaux. Eiffel oversaw the construction with such success that in 1866 he founded his own company and soon became known for his wrought-iron structures.

Starting in 1872, he attracted foreign contracts, and in 1877 he erected a steel arch bridge 160 m (525 feet) in height over the Douro River in Porto (Oporto), Portugal.

Eiffel's work combined expert craftsmanship and graceful design, qualities that are evident in the Garabit viaduct in France. Completed in 1884, it was for a time the highest bridge in the world, winning Eiffel's factory a worldwide reputation for excellence. Eiffel also designed the structural skeleton for Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi's colossal statue Liberty Enlightening the World (Statue of Liberty), which was dedicated in New York City in 1886.

Soon after this, Eiffel began work on his greatest project, the building of the Eiffel Tower. It was completed in 1889 for the celebration of the centennial of the French Revolution. The imposing tower –
constructed of more than 7,000 tons of iron, divided into about 18,000 parts and held together by 2.5 million rivets – rises to a height of 324 m (1,063 feet).

The tower, the highest structure in the world at the time of its completion, continues to dominate the Paris
skyline and attract millions of tourists every year.