Stevenson, Robert |
| CIVIL ENGINEER (SCOTLAND) |
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BORN 8 Jun 1772, Glasgow - DIED 12 Jul 1850, Edinburgh GRAVE LOCATION Edinburgh: New Calton Burial Ground, Regent Road |
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Robert Stevenson was the son of Adam Stevenson, a partner in a West India trading house. His fahter died in the West Indies in 1774. His mother married the mechanic Thomas Smith and Robert became his assistant. When he was nineteen years old he supervised the construction of a lighthouse. He attended lectures in mathematics and physics at the Andersonian Institute at Glasgow and also studied in Edinburgh to qualify as a civil engineer. He took no degree because he hardly knew any Latin and no Greek at all. In 1797 he succeeded Smith as engineer to the Lighthouse Board. He married smith's daughter Jean on 28 May 1799 and they had five surviving children. In 1800 he became Smith's business partner. He is well known for the construction of the Bell Rock Lighthouse but he worked for the Board for nearly fifty years and built numerous other lighthouses. He also worked as a consulting engineer on the construction of roads, bridges, canals and railways. One of his projects was the Hutcheson Bridge in Glasgow. In 1815 he was became a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. he contributed to the Encyclopędia Britannica and published articles in scientific journals. |
| Images | |
 The grave of Robert Stevenson at New Carlton Burial Ground, Edinburgh. Picture by Androom (05 Nov 2019) |
 The grave of Robert Stevenson at New Carlton Burial Ground, Edinburgh. Picture by Androom (05 Nov 2019) |
