Anton Tedesko

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Anton Tedesko (born May 25, 1903 in Germany, † April 2, 1994 in Seattle ) was an American civil engineer. He is known for introducing thin concrete shells into U.S. engineering practice.

Tedesko grew up in Graz and Vienna and studied civil engineering at the Vienna University of Technology with a diploma in 1926. He then spent two and a half years (from 1927 to 1929) in the USA. From 1930 he was at Dyckerhoff & Widmann (D&W) where, under the influence of Franz Dischinger and Ulrich Finsterwalder, he familiarized himself with the theory of the calculation of thin shells as a structural design, which was then developing. A milestone in 1922 was the construction of the dome of the Zeiss planetarium by Dischinger with the patented Zeiss-Dywidag system (ZD), later adapted for barrel roofs. In order to make the process known in the USA, D&W sent him to the construction company Roberts and Schaefer (R&S) in Chicago in 1932, which hired him in 1934. The first application of the new system was found at the Hayden Planetarium in New York, which was 81 feet in diameter with a concrete wall thickness of 3 inches, and the first application for barrel roof halls was at the 1933 World's Fair ( Brook Hill Farm Dairy Barn , span 36 Foot, concrete thickness 3 inches, examined for test purposes after the world exhibition). Even his design for the roof of the Hershey Arena in Pennsylvania (222 feet span) deviated considerably from German practice.

During World War II and immediately afterwards, he designed a number of roofs for hangars, for example for the US Air Force in Rapid City and Limestone, Maine in 1948, with a 340 foot span and 5 inches thick.

In 1950 he introduced ribless shells , first realized in full (not just as a model) in 1958 for a department store of the US Air Force in Olmstead, Pennsylvania (39 feet span, 3 inches thick).

He also designed NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, completed in 1966 . It holds the record for the building that encloses the largest volume. He also designed the launch complex 36 . In total, he designed around 60 shell structures. He was also known for his communication skills and himself said that he sees himself less as an innovative design engineer of shell structures than an experienced strategist , who often succeeded in getting his designs through, even if his name was not mentioned.

At the age of 88, he was still completing a design for the new Williamsburg Bridge (together with his 90-year-old former manager at D&W Ulrich Finsterwalder).

In 1966 he received the Civil Engineering Achievement Award from ASCE. In 1998 the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) introduced the Anton Tedesko Medal in his honor .

His estate is at Princeton University. He had been friends with Hubert Rüsch since his youth .

literature

  • Klaus Stiglat : Civil engineers and their work , Ernst and Son 2004
  • EM Hines, DP Billington: Anton Tedesko and the Introduction of Thin Shell Concrete Roofs in the United States , J. of Structural Engineering, Vol. 130, No. 11, 2004, pp. 1639-1650.
  • Jörg Schlaich : Anton Tedesko (1903–1994) , Structural Engineering International, November, 2004, pp. 324–326
  • P. Saradshow, J. Schlaich: Anton Tedesko and the early history of concrete shells , Journal of the International Association for Shell Structures, Volume 35, December 1994, pp. 139-154.
  • DP Billington: Anton Tedesko: Thin shells and esthetics , ASCE J. Struct. Div., Vol. 108, No. 11, 1982, pp. 2539-2554.
  • David P. Billington, Anton Tedesko: The Engineer's Personality and the Influence It Has on His Work - A Historical Perspective , Concrete International, February 1982, pp. 20-26.
  • SJ Medwadowski: In Memoriam: Anton Tedesko , Journal of the International Association for Shell Structures, Volume 35, December 1994, p. 137.
  • Anton Tedesko , Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering, Volume 8, 1996, pp. 262-267.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klaus Stiglat, Civil engineers and their work, 2004, p. 416
personal data
SURNAME Tedesko, Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American civil engineer
DATE OF BIRTH May 25, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Germany
DATE OF DEATH April 2, 1994
Place of death Seattle