Gustave Eiffel

Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (Dijon, 15 December 1832 – Paris, 27 December 1923) was a French engineer and entrepreneur.
A specialist in metal structures, he became famous for the construction of the Eiffel Tower for the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1889.
Alexandre Gustave Bönickhausen, known as Eiffel, was born on December 15, 1832, in Dijon, France, the eldest son of Catherine-Mélanie (née Moneuse) and Alexandre Bönickhausen. His father was a descendant of Jean-René Bönickhausen, ..
Alexandre Gustave Bönickhausen, known as Eiffel, was born on December 15, 1832, in Dijon, France, the eldest son of Catherine-Mélanie (née Moneuse) and Alexandre Bönickhausen. His father was a descendant of Jean-René Bönickhausen, a German from Marmagen who had settled in Paris at the beginning of the century. Finding his original surname problematic because it was difficult for the French to pronounce, he decided to change it to "Eiffel", after the Eifel mountains in his native land. Nevertheless, at birth, little Gustave's surname was registered as Bönickhausen, only to be permanently changed to Eiffel in 1880.

Gustave Eiffel was born into a wealthy family: his father, an officer, had married a businesswoman, an entrepreneur in the wood and coal trade, with a solid personal fortune. Due to his mother's duties and commitments, little Gustave was soon entrusted to the care of his grandmother: despite this, Catherine-Mélanie was a very attentive mother and established a very close relationship with her docile son, destined to last until 1878, the year of her death. In the meantime, young Gustave was accompanied to the Lycée Royal in Dijon: his schooling, however, was discontinuous, except for the last two years, where he applied himself to his studies with full devotion, thus managing to obtain the baccalauréat in sciences and humanities with full marks. Very significant for his education was the figure of his uncle Jean-Baptiste Mollerat, the famous inventor of a process for extracting vinegar from wood, who introduced Gustave to the study of chemistry.
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