John Smeaton, like so many of his contemporaries, made a name for himself in several fields. He can best be described as a professional inventor. Considered to be the founder of instrument making in Britain, he is best remembered for his work as a civil engineer.

Smeaton was born in England of Scottish ancestry-- many of the engineers that followed in his footsteps were Scotsmen. Scotland is a rocky country and stone masonry was a part of daily life there. His father was an attorney and gave his son a start in his law firm. This profession did not appeal to Smeaton, and he soon left it to pursue a profession of a more mechanical nature. He began writing papers on instrument-making and by 1753 was elected to the Royal Society. He was selected in 1755 to design a new lighthouse for the Eddystone Rocks near Plymouth, England, and the...