Tung-Yen Lin

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the Chinese American structural engineer. For the infrastructure firm he founded, see T. Y. Lin International.

Tung-Yen Lin
林同棪
The Memorial Statue of Tung-Yen Lin in the Xipu Campus of Southwest Jiaotong University
Born(1912-11-14)November 14, 1912
Fuzhou, China
DiedNovember 15, 2003(2003-11-15) (aged 91)
El Cerrito, California
Alma mater
OccupationStructural engineer
Notable work
SpouseMargaret Kao Lin
AwardsNational Medal of Science (1986)

Tung-Yen Lin (Chinese: 林同棪; pinyin: Lín Tóngyán; November 14, 1912 – November 15, 2003) was a Chinese-American structural engineer who was the pioneer of standardizing the use of prestressed concrete.[1]

Biography

Born in

Tangshan Engineering College (now Southwest Jiaotong University), having earned the top score in math and the second best score overall in the college entrance exams for his entering class. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1931 and left for the United States, where he earned his master's degree in civil engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1933. Lin's master's thesis was the first student thesis published by the American Society of Civil Engineers.[2]
Lin returned to China after graduation to work with the Chinese Ministry of Railways. Before too long he earned the reputation of being a "good engineer". This positioned him to become the chief bridge engineer of the
T.Y. Lin International, a firm he founded in 1954. After selling that firm, he left it to found Lin Tung-Yen China on June 1, 1992, which oversees engineering projects in China.[3]

When Lin received the

Intercontinental Peace Bridge. He also proposed a bridge across the Strait of Gibraltar
that would have 16,000-foot (4,900-metre) spans and 3,000-foot (910-metre) tall towers. Lin was also the first recipient of the A.S.C.E. lifetime achievement in design award, and the society renamed the prestressed concrete award to the T.Y. Lin award.

architects
in the early 1900s, but by the late 1940s, this aspect of engineering had been all but forgotten. Lin was saddened by this situation commenting:

But during the last century, particularly in America, we rushed our construction. We have only so much budget to build so many bridges. So we put emphasis on economy. And therefore mass production, et cetera. And almost forgot about aesthetics, in America. Of course, there are beautiful bridges, but in general, engineers didn't think about beauty.

Lin fought against the pressures of economy by incorporating more aesthetics into his bridges and developing new techniques that increased economy. Lin believed that "engineering approach should be a global vision of the bridge. To fit the environment and to express the structural forces and moments, and nature itself." Attention had to be paid not only to the details of the bridge, but also to the surrounding landscape. Pre-stressing the concrete allowed Lin to accomplish the goal of incorporating unique shapes without sacrificing the bottom line.

Among his engineering accomplishments were the

Kuan Du Bridge in Taiwan, and the roof of the National Racetrack in Caracas, Venezuela. In 1996, he was named the 53rd National Honor Member of Chi Epsilon, the national civil engineering honor society.[4]

He died of a heart attack at age 91.[5][6] His El Cerrito, California home is the world's first residential structure made of prestressed concrete. His home features a 1,000-square-foot (93-square-metre) dance floor serving as monument to his favorite pastime, dancing. His widow, Margaret Kao Lin is also the daughter of a former ROC supreme court justice.

See also

References

  1. ISBN 9780784471210
    . Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  2. ^ "11.18.2003 - T.Y. Lin, world renowned structural engineer, dies at age 91". berkeley.edu. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  3. ^ "11.18.2003 - T.Y. Lin, world renowned structural engineer, dies at age 91". newsarchive.berkeley.edu. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
  4. ^ DeStefano, Jim. "Great Achievements: T.Y. Lin" (PDF). STRUCTURE Magazine (December 2003/January 2004): 42. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 13, 2014.
  5. ^ "Tung-Yen Lin, 91; Engineer Advocated a Novel Way to Build". Los Angeles Times. November 20, 2003.
  6. ^ "TUNG-YEN LIN 1911–2003". NAE Website. Retrieved April 11, 2024.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tung-Yen_Lin&oldid=1218477277"