Maurice Koechlin
Engineer
Remembered for his work on the Eiffel Tower, the Garabit Viaduct, and the metal framework of the Statue of Liberty, this prominent structural engineer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was the recipient of France's prestigious Légion d'honneur.
After studying civil engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (the ETH Zürich), he worked briefly for a French railroad known as the Chemin de Fer de l'Est.
One of his descendants, Kalki Koechlin, became a prominent Bollywood actress.
He was born and raised in Switzerland in a wealthy family of French textile industrialists. His marriage to Emma Rossier resulted in three daughters and three sons.
In the late 1870s, he began working for Gustave Eiffel's prominent architectural and civil engineering company.