The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Fuertes, Estevan Antonio
FUERTES, Estevan Antonio, American
civil engineer: b. San Juan, Porto Rico, 1838;
d. 1903. He received his education at Salamanca,
Spain, and at the Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, Troy, N. Y. In 1861-63 he was assistant
engineer in the Department of Public
Works, Porto Rico, and subsequently served as
director of public works for the western
district of that island. Coming to the United
States in 1864 he was successively assistant
engineer and engineer to the Croton Aqueduct
Board, and in 1870-71 was chief engineer of the
American Isthmian Canal expeditions to
Tehuantepec and Nicaragua to investigate and
report on the practicability of a ship canal
connecting the Caribbean and the Pacific. In 1873
he was appointed dean of the civil engineering
department of Cornell, and in 1890-1902
directed the college of civil engineering there
and brought the equipment of that department
up to modern standard. In 1902 he became
professor of astronomy at Cornell and
supervised the construction of the Barnes Observatory.
He planned a drainage system for Santos,
Brazil. He was a member of many scientific
societies, American, and foreign.