Johann Wilhelm Schwedler

One of his practical examinations was waived after he won the international competition to design a road and rail bridge across the Rhine between Cologne and Deutz.

[2] He was then required to leave on his Wanderjahre as a journeyman; he did so with his new wife, the daughter of a teacher and organist in Buckow, whom he had met through their shared love of music and become engaged to six years before.

His "Theorie der Brückenbalkensysteme", published in the first year of the Zeitschrift für Bauwesen (1851), had a revolutionary impact on the construction of steel bridges.

Shortly after his return to Berlin, he became an instructor at the Academy of Construction, and after 1864 he was an examiner there; his teaching greatly improved the training in the field.

[7] His first use of the innovation was for the railway bridge over the Weser at Corvey, on the edge of Höxter (1864),[7][16] for which he won a gold medal at the 1867 Paris International Exposition.

[19][20] Called in by the Imperial Continental Gas Association in 1863 to replace a failed roof over a telescoping gas holder, Schwedler devised a workable solution but thinking further about the problem, in 1866 published an article describing a new type of iron cupola that was simpler, lighter, and as sturdy:[21] it takes the form of an unsupported spheroidal steel vault, rather than beams, and was normally used to span distances of 25–45 m.[22][23] He used Schwedler cupolas in designing four new gas holders for Berlin's street lighting, of which the one now known as the Fichte-Bunker (1874) survives,[24][25] and the only deterrent to their use today is the cost of labour.