Gustave Eiffel began his carrier working as an unpaid assistant in his brother-in-law’s foundry. He went on to work on railway projects as an independent consulting engineer. He took over the design of the Eiffel Tower from Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, who had developed the idea as a centre piece for the 1889 Exposition Universelle.

Read more about his life and works at biography.com