Seven Wonders of the Industrial World

Episode 2: The Brooklyn Bridge

September 11, 2003 • 50 min

Focusing on the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, the episode examines the family that built it - John Augustus Roebling, who designed the bridge; his son, Washington Roebling, who took over construction following his father's death shortly after the project was announced; and Washington's wife Emily Roebling, who taught herself engineering principles and took on the burden of her husband's work after his health was destroyed by the decompression sickness he suffered owing to the length of time he spent working and overseeing matters in the pressured atmosphere of the underwater caissons used to build the bridge.