In 1856, Eiffel trained in Paris with Charles Nepveu, an Ecole Centrale graduate who had already earned a reputation for his treatises on the organisation of labour, and a builder of steam engines, tools, forges, boilermaking and sheet metalwork (metallurgical industry). This caused him to lose interest in chemistry. He chose to study chemistry, expecting to succeed his uncle Jean-Baptiste Mollerat (1772-1855) in the management of his acetic acid factory in Pouilly-sur-Saône (France).īut when Mollerat died in 1855, family disputes deprived Gustave Eiffel of the management of this coveted company.

Eiffel: from Ecole Centrale apprentice to public construction company managerĪlthough Eiffel (1832-1923) failed to gain entry to the Ecole Polytechnique in 1852, he was nevertheless admitted to the Ecole centrale des arts et manufactures in Paris. We take a look at the key players and events in a building project forever associated with the history of Paris. The daring Eiffel Tower project that he conceived in 1886, supported by his team of innovative engineers, was both a technical and financial challenge. By the time he won the competition for the Universal Exhibition of 1889, Gustave Eiffel had already acquired a solid reputation thanks, among other things, to iconic projects such as the Statue of Liberty and the Gabarit viaduct (France).

Effie tower