Famous 20th Century Engineers

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 1 
Claude Shannon
(Mathematician, Engineer & Cryptographer Known as a 'Father of Information Theory')
Claude Shannon
23
Birthdate: April 30, 1916
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Petoskey, Michigan, United States
Died: February 24, 2001

Claude Shannon was an electrical engineer, mathematician, and cryptographer. He is credited with publishing the article A Mathematical Theory of Communication which gave rise to the field of information theory. Hence, Shannon is considered the father of information theory. He is also credited with founding digital circuit design theory. During World War II, he contributed to the field of cryptanalysis.

 2 
Gustave Eiffel
(French Civil Engineer Known for His Contribution to Building the ‘Statue of Liberty’ and ‘Eiffel Tower’)
Gustave Eiffel
26
Birthdate: December 15, 1832
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Dijon, France
Died: December 27, 1923
The man behind the jewel that adorns Paris, the Eiffel Tower, French civil engineer Gustave Eiffel later earned the nickname “the magician of iron.” He revolutionized bridge-building by using compressed-air caissons, designed the Statue of Liberty, and built the first aerodynamic laboratory. He died while listening to Beethoven's 5th symphony.
 3 
Fazlur Rahman Khan
(Structural Engineer and Architect Known for His Innovations in High-Rise Building Construction)
Fazlur Rahman Khan
15
Birthdate: April 3, 1929
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Died: March 27, 1982

Fazlur Rahman Khan was a Bangladeshi-American architect and structural engineer. Regarded as the father of tubular designs, Khan is credited with designing several skyscrapers, including the Willis Tower and the John Hancock Center. Thanks to his ingenious use of structural systems, Khan is often referred to as the 20th century's greatest structural engineer and the Einstein of structural engineering.

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 4 
E. Sreedharan
(Metro Man)
E. Sreedharan
27
Birthdate: June 12, 1932
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Palakkad, Kerala

E. Sreedharan is an Indian politician and engineer who played a key role in the construction of the Delhi Metro and the Konkan Railway. Nicknamed the Metro Man, Sreedharan was honored with the prestigious Padma Vibhushan Award for changing the face of Indian public transport. In 2003, E. Sreedharan was included in Time magazine's list of Asia's Heroes.

 5 
Frederick Winslow Taylor
(American Mechanical Engineer Known for His Methods to Improve Industrial Efficiency)
Frederick Winslow Taylor
18
Birthdate: March 20, 1856
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: March 21, 1915

American inventor, mechanical engineer and an accomplished tennis and golf player, Frederick Winslow Taylor, regarded as the father of scientific management, sought to improve industrial efficiency. His approach on scientific management, referred to as Taylorism, has significantly influenced development of industrial engineering and production management. His monograph, The Principles of Scientific Management, laid out his views on principles of scientific management.

 6 
John Bardeen
(American Physicist, Engineer and the Only Person to Win the Nobel Prize in Physics Twice)
John Bardeen
12
Birthdate: May 23, 1908
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Died: January 30, 1991

American engineer, physicist and Nobel laureate John Bardeen is the only person who received the Nobel Prize in Physics twice. He shared the first Nobel with William Shockley and Walter Brattain in 1956 for inventing the transistor, and the second with Leon N Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer in 1972 for proposing the BCS theory, a microscopic theory of superconductivity.

 7 
John DeLorean
(Engineer Known for His Work at 'General Motors' & Founder of the 'DeLorean Motor Company')
John DeLorean
17
Birthdate: January 6, 1925
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan, United States
Died: March 19, 2005

John DeLorean was an American inventor and engineer. Highly regarded for his work at General Motors, John DeLorean was an influential figure in the US automobile industry. He is credited with founding the popular American automobile manufacturer, The DeLorean Motor Company. DeLorean’s life inspired a couple of documentary films, including Framing John DeLorean where he was played by Alec Baldwin.

 8 
Linus Torvalds
(Finnish Software Engineer Who is the Main Developer of the 'Linux' Operating System)
Linus Torvalds
15
Birthdate: December 28, 1969
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Helsinki, Finland
Finnish software engineer Linus Torvalds developed the open-source software Linux kernel, the Git system, and the scuba dive planning software Subsurface. Named to Time 100 and inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame, he has also written an autobiography. He is married to Finnish karate champion Tove Torvalds.
 9 
John Monash
(One of the Best Allied Generals of the First World War & the Most Famous Commander in Australian History)
John Monash
14
Birthdate: June 27, 1865
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Melbourne, Australia
Died: October 8, 1931

John Monash was an Australian military commander during World War I. He played a major role in the Gallipoli campaign, which took place from February 1915 to January 1916 on the Gallipoli peninsula. John Monash is widely regarded as the most popular commander in Australian history and one of the most prominent allied generals of World War I.

 10 
Konrad Zuse
(Pioneering German Computer Scientist Who Created the World's First Programmable Digital Computer)
Konrad Zuse
7
Birthdate: June 22, 1910
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
Died: December 18, 1995

Award-winning German computer scientist Konrad Zuse created the world's first program-controlled computer, named Z1. He then moved on to Z3, the first fully functional programmable computer in the world, and Z4, the first commercial digital computer in the world. Post-retirement, he spent most of his time painting.

 11 
Hamza Bendelladj
(Computer engineer)
Hamza Bendelladj
12
Birthdate: January 1, 1988
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Tizi Ouzou, Algeria
 12 
Ferdinand Porsche
(Automotive Engineer and Founder of the ‘Porsche AG’)
Ferdinand Porsche
8
Birthdate: September 3, 1875
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: ratislavice nad Nisou, Liberec, Czechia
Died: January 30, 1951

Ferdinand Porsche was an Austrian-German automotive engineer. He is credited with founding one of the most popular car companies in the world, Porsche AG. He is also credited with creating the Lohner-Porsche mixed hybrid, the first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle. During World War II, Porsche was a prominent contributor to the German war effort.

 13 
Guido van Rossum
(Dutch Programmer Known for Creating the 'Python' Programming Language)
Guido van Rossum
19
Birthdate: January 31, 1956
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Haarlem, Netherlands
Dutch programmer Guido van Rossum is known as the inventor of the Python programming language. He has also worked with Google and Dropbox earlier. In November 2020, he announced he announced his decision to join the Developer Division of Microsoft. He has won several honors, such as the NLUUG Award.
 14 
Lisa Nowak
(Flight Engineer on Sts-121 and Former NASA Astronaut)
Lisa Nowak
23
Birthdate: May 10, 1963
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Washington, D.C., United States

Former NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy captain Lisa Nowak was part of the STS-121 mission. She made headlines when she apparently attempted to kidnap Air Force captain Colleen Shipman, who was getting into a relationship with astronaut William Oefelein, who had previously dated Nowak. Nowak was subsequently dismissed from NASA.

 15 
Jack Kilby
(Inventor of integrated circuit)
Jack Kilby
10
Birthdate: November 8, 1923
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Jefferson City
Died: June 20, 2005

Nobel Prize-winning engineer Jack Kilby is best remembered for his contribution to the development of the integrated circuit. Born to an electrical engineer, he had his first brush with gadgets as an amateur radio operator. Initially a Texas Instruments employee, he later also taught at the Texas A&M University.

 16 
Wilhelm Rontgen
(German Mechanical Engineer and Winner of the 1901 Nobel Prize in Physics)
Wilhelm Rontgen
6
Birthdate: March 27, 1845
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Lennep, Remscheid, Germany
Died: February 10, 1923

Wilhelm Rontgen was a German physicist and mechanical engineer. He is best remembered for producing and detecting X-rays for which he was honored with the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. His discovery of X-rays remains one of the greatest achievements in the field of medical science.

 17 
Amar Bose
(The Founder of 'Bose Corporation')
Amar Bose
19
Birthdate: November 2, 1929
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: July 12, 2013

Amar Bose was an American academic, entrepreneur, sound engineer, and electrical engineer. Bose served as a professor at MIT for more than 45 years. He is also credited with founding a manufacturing company called Bose Corporation where he served as the chairman. In 2008, Amar Bose was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. 

 18 
Anatoly Dyatlov
(Nuclear Engineer)
Anatoly Dyatlov
10
Birthdate: March 3, 1931
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Atamanovo, Russia
Died: December 13, 1995
Anatoly Dyatlov was the deputy chief-engineer of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. He oversaw the safety test that eventually ended in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Dyatlov was later imprisoned for his negligence but was released in 1990, as part of an amnesty. His recorded memoirs were later released on YouTube.
 19 
Margaret Hamilton
(American Computer Scientist, Systems Engineer, and Business Owner)
Margaret Hamilton
6
Birthdate: August 17, 1936
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Paoli, Indiana, United States

Credited with coining the term software engineering, computer scientist and systems engineer, Margaret Heafield Hamilton served as the Director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, overseeing the development of the on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo program.  A prolific writer, she is also the founder of two software companies; Higher Order Software and Hamilton Technologies.

 20 
Martin Cooper
(Inventor of First Cellular Mobile Phone)
Martin Cooper
6
Birthdate: December 26, 1928
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, United States
Electrical engineer Martin Cooper had initially served the U.S. Navy in the Korean War. He later joined Motorola and pioneered many inventions in wireless communications. The Charles Stark Draper Prize winner also invented the world’s first mobile phone and made the first cell phone call.
 21 
John McAfee
(Computer Programmer and Businessman Who Wrote the First Commercial Anti-Virus Software)
John McAfee
16
Birthdate: September 18, 1945
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England
Died: June 23, 2021

John McAfee is an English-American businessman and computer programmer. He is credited with founding one of the most popular software companies of all time, McAfee Associates, which specializes in producing enterprise security software. After leaving the company, which is now owned by TPG Capital and Intel, John McAfee went on to found other companies like Tribal Voice and Future Tense Central.

 22 
Scott Kelly
(American Engineer, Retired Naval Aviator, and Astronaut)
Scott Kelly
13
Birthdate: February 21, 1964
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: City of Orange, New Jersey, United States

Scott Kelly is an American engineer, retired naval aviator, and astronaut. He is credited with commanding the International Space Station on three Expeditions. Scott Kelly is the recipient of several awards and honors, such as the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and National Defense Service Medal.

 23 
Homer Hickam
(Aerospace Engineer)
Homer Hickam
6
Birthdate: February 19, 1943
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Coalwood, West Virginia, United States
 24 
George Westinghouse
(American Entrepreneur and Engineer Who Invented the ‘Railway Air Brake’)
George Westinghouse
4
Birthdate: October 6, 1846
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Central Bridge, New York, United States
Died: March 12, 1914

Inventor and entrepreneur George Westinghouse was mostly responsible for introducing the U.S. to alternating current (AC). Initially part of the army and the navy, the talented engineer began his journey of inventions with the rotary steam engine and went on to invent several products, such as air brakes.

 25 
Harold Camping
(Radio personality, Civil engineer)
Harold Camping
5
Birthdate: July 19, 1921
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Boulder
Died: December 15, 2013

Californian evangelist and preacher Harold Camping made headlines when he incorrectly predicted the date of the Rapture, or the end of the world, to be May 21, 2011. Initially a civil engineer, Camping later came to be known for leading Family Radio, a Christian broadcast station, in its peak.

 26 
Sid Meier
(Canadian-American Programmer, Designer, and Producer of 'Civilization' Game Series)
Sid Meier
8
Birthdate: February 24, 1954
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Sarnia, Canada

Game designer Sid Meier soared to fame with the strategy game series Civilization. Initially a cash-register designer, he later co-founded the gaming company MicroProse. He met his wife at a Lutheran Church, where they both still sing. Apart from the AIAS Hall of Fame Award, he has also penned a memoir.

 27 
Bernhard Caesar Einstein
(Swiss-American Engineer and One of the Three Known Biological Grandchildren of Albert Einstein)
Bernhard Caesar Einstein
5
Birthdate: July 10, 1930
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Dortmund, Germany
Died: September 30, 2008

Swiss-American physicist and engineer Bernhard Caesar Einstein was better known as the only grandchild of Albert Einstein to have survived beyond childhood. While two of his biological brothers died in infancy, his parents adopted a girl child, too. He grew up to work on night vision and laser technology.

 28 
Gene Kranz
(American Aerospace Engineer Who Served as Nasa's Second Chief Flight Director)
Gene Kranz
6
Birthdate: August 17, 1933
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Toledo, Ohio, United States
 29 
Granville Woods
(Inventor)
Granville Woods
5
Birthdate: April 23, 1856
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Columbus, Ohio, United States
Died: January 30, 1910

Granville Woods was 10 when he began working at a machine shop, while continuing his studies at a night school. He grew up to become a steam locomotive engineer and earned the nickname the Black Edison for his countless inventions, most of which were related to electrical systems for railways.

 30 
Tim Sweeney
(Computer programmer)
Tim Sweeney
10
Birthdate: 1970 AD
Birthplace: Potomac, Maryland, United States
 31 
Steven Wilson
(Engineer, Guitarist, Audio engineer, Singer, Songwriter, Record producer)
Steven Wilson
13
Birthdate: November 3, 1967
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Hemel Hempstead
 32 
Edwin Howard Armstrong
(American Electrical Engineer and Inventor, Who Developed FM Radio and the Superheterodyne Receiver System)
Edwin Howard Armstrong
4
Birthdate: December 18, 1890
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Chelsea, New York, United States
Died: February 1, 1954

Edwin Howard Armstrong was an American inventor and electrical engineer. He is credited with developing the superheterodyne receiver system as well as the frequency modulation (FM) radio. During his illustrious career, Armstrong received several awards including the IEEE Medal of Honor, Franklin Medal, and Edison Medal. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1980.

 33 
Sergei Korolev
(Lead Rocket Engineer and Founder of the Soviet Union’s Space Program)
Sergei Korolev
4
Birthdate: January 1, 1907
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Zhytomyr, Ukraine
Died: January 14, 1966

Sergei Korolev was a Soviet spacecraft designer and rocket engineer who played an important role during the Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States of America in the 1950s and 1960s. He was largely responsible for developing the R-7 Rocket and launching Yuri Gagarin into space. Sergei Korolev also launched Belka, Strelka, and Laika into space.

 34 
Wally Schirra
(American Astronaut Who Became the Fifth American and Ninth Human to Travel Into Space)
Wally Schirra
5
Birthdate: March 12, 1923
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Hackensack, New Jersey, United States
Died: May 3, 2007

Wally Schirra was an American NASA astronaut, test pilot, and naval aviator. He achieved popularity in 1959, when he became one of the seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury. In 1962, he was part of Mercury-Atlas 8 and became only the ninth human to travel into space. Wally Schirra was portrayed by Lance Henriksen in the film, The Right Stuff.

 35 
Judith Resnik
(Engineer)
Judith Resnik
18
Birthdate: April 5, 1949
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Akron, Ohio, United States
Died: January 28, 1986

Judith Resnik was an American software engineer, electrical engineer, pilot, biomedical engineer, and NASA astronaut. She was the fourth woman and the first Jewish woman in space, logging 145 hours in orbit. Resnik, who died during the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, received several posthumous honors. Judith Resnik’s life and career inspired the 1990 TV movie Challenger.

 36 
Frederick McKinley Jones
(Inventor of 'Mobile Refrigeration Technology' for Transportation of Perishable Goods)
Frederick McKinley Jones
6
Birthdate: May 17, 1893
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Died: February 21, 1961

Best known for inventing an automatic refrigeration system used in long-haul trucks, Frederick McKinley Jones was orphaned at age 7. He quit school as a child and took up menial jobs. After briefly serving the army, he focused on inventing machine parts and ended up with over 60 patents.

 37 
Joseph Strauss
(American Structural Engineer Who Revolutionized the Design of 'Bascule Bridges')
Joseph Strauss
3
Birthdate: January 9, 1870
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Died: May 16, 1938

Best known for designing the Golden Gate Bridge, engineer Joseph Strauss specialized in movable bridges and developed the concepts of the bascule bridge and the vertical-lift bridge. Born to a pianist mother and a painter-writer father, he later also penned poems such as The Mighty Task is Done.

 38 
Eugene Cernan
(American Naval Aviator Who Became the Eleventh Human Being to Walk on the Moon)
Eugene Cernan
4
Birthdate: March 14, 1934
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, United States
Died: January 16, 2017

Eugene Cernan was an American naval aviator, astronaut, aeronautical engineer, electrical engineer, and fighter pilot. As of 2022, Cernan remains the last man to walk on the Moon, which he did in 1972 as part of the Apollo 17 mission. In 2007, Eugene Cernan was made an inductee of the International Air & Space Hall of Fame.

 39 
Gene Haas
(Engineer)
Gene Haas
5
Birthdate: November 12, 1952
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Youngstown, Ohio, United States
 40 
Max Yasgur
(Farmer)
Max Yasgur
5
Birthdate: December 15, 1919
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: New York City
Died: February 9, 1973
 41 
William Edwards Deming
(Statistician, Electrical Engineer)
William Edwards Deming
7
Birthdate: October 14, 1900
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Sioux City
Died: December 20, 1993

Born to a lawyer, William Edwards Deming grew up to become a renowned mathematical physicist and later taught statistics at the New York University. His research focused on the application of statistical methods to improve quality control in various industries. His ideas were later widely used by Japanese corporates.

 42 
Kelly Johnson
(Aerospace engineer)
Kelly Johnson
4
Birthdate: February 27, 1910
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Ishpeming, Michigan, United States
Died: December 21, 1990
 43 
Alfredo Ferrari
(Engineer)
Alfredo Ferrari
3
Birthdate: January 19, 1932
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Modena
Died: June 30, 1956
 44 
Fred C Koch
(Chemical Engineer, Entrepreneur)
Fred C Koch
4
Birthdate: September 23, 1900
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Quanah, Texas, United States
Died: November 17, 1967
 45 
Garrett Camp
(Innovator & Entrepreneurs)
Garrett Camp
15
Birthdate: October 4, 1978
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Calgary

Tech magnate Garrett Camp made headlines in 2020 when he quit his position of board director of Uber, a company co-founded by him, to focus on its product strategy. Camp has also formed companies such as StumbleUpon and the start-up incubator Expa Labs, and is part of The Giving Pledge.

 46 
Robert Noyce
(Co-inventor of the integrated circuit)
Robert Noyce
6
Birthdate: December 12, 1927
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Burlington
Died: June 3, 1990

American engineer Robert Noyce, who co-invented the integrated circuit, later gained the nickname the Mayor of Silicon Valley. The co-founder of Intel and Fairchild Semiconductor, Noyce is also said to have given Silicon Valley its name with his invention that included a silicon microchip. He was also a swimming champion.

 47 
Leslie Groves
(United States Army Officer in Charge of the Construction of 'The Pentagon' and Director of 'The Manhattan Project')
Leslie Groves
3
Birthdate: August 17, 1896
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Albany, New York, United States
Died: July 13, 1970

US Army officer Leslie Groves is best remembered for his association with the Manhattan Project, which was aimed at developing atom bombs during World War II. He was also in-charge of building a place to house the War Department’s staff in a structure that later became the Pentagon.

 48 
John McCarthy
(Mathematician, Computer scientist, Engineer, University teacher)
John McCarthy
4
Birthdate: September 4, 1927
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Boston
Died: October 24, 2011
 49 
Shawn Fanning
(Computer scientist, Programmer)
Shawn Fanning
8
Birthdate: November 22, 1980
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Brockton

Computer programmer and entrepreneur Shawn Fanning revolutionized the world of information technology by developing a program that let users share MP3 copies of music from their personal computers with others on the internet. His invention led to the formation of Napster and got him featured on the cover of Time.

 50 
Eugene Stoner
(Designer)
Eugene Stoner
6
Birthdate: November 22, 1922
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Gosport, Indiana, United States
Died: April 24, 1997

Eugene Stoner is largely remembered for developing the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle, which was a forerunner of the M16 rifle used by the American military. Though he didn’t have any formal education beyond high school, Stoner, like his Russian counterpart, Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, revolutionized the arms industry with his inventions.