Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923). Historical artwork of the French engineer, Eiffel, with his most famous work the Eiffel Tower in the background. He was one of France's most prolific engineers and particularly famed for his bridge designs, including a 160-metre span railway bridge across the River Douro in Portugal. The Eiffel Tower at the Champs-de-Mars in Paris, was erected for the 1889 Paris Exhibition. The open-lattice steel tower stands 300 metres high, and was the tallest man-made construction in the world until 1930. Eiffel also designed the framework for the Statue of Liberty in New York, and built the world's first aerodynamics laboratory.