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John was born in 1724. He passed away in 1792.
He is regarded as the "father of civil engineering".
As a civil engineer (a phrase he coined) he was responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses e.g. the third Eddystone Lighthouse (1755–59). Also a mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist. He pioneered the use of hydraulic lime in concrete, using pebbles and powdered brick as aggregate.
He addressed the relationship between pressure and velocity for objects moving in air with resultant increase in efficiency in water power which contributed to the Industrial Revolution. He designed the diving bell and experimented with the Thomas Newcomen steam engine to make marked improvements around the time James Watt was building his first engines.
As blast furnaces developed the need for increased air compression did too. In 1762, John Smeaton built a water wheel-driven blowing cylinder (essentially a larger-scale bellows mechanically operated by an automatic water wheel) that began to replace the old bellows. Inventor John Wilkinson introduced an efficient blasting machine in England in 1776 and age of pneumatic energy became universally embraced.
Memorial at Whitkirk[1]
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