Leslie E. Robertson | |
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Born | Leslie Earl Robertson February 12, 1928 |
Nationality | United States |
Education | BS, University of California, Berkeley (1952) |
Occupation | Engineer |
Engineering career | |
Discipline | Structural engineer |
Institutions | National Academy of Engineering Institution of Structural Engineers |
Practice name | Leslie E. Robertson Associates (LERA) |
Projects | World Trade Center Shanghai World Financial Center Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong |
Awards | John Fritz Medal (2012) IStructE Gold Medal |
Leslie Earl Robertson (born February 12, 1928) is an American engineer. He was the lead structural engineer of the Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center in New York City.[1] He has since been structural engineer on numerous other projects, including the Shanghai World Financial Center and the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong.
Robertson studied civil engineering at University of California, Berkeley, and received a BSc degree in 1952.
Robertson's engineering career began in 1952, when he joined Kaiser Engineering. In 1958 he joined the Seattle structural and civil engineering firm Worthington and Skilling. As an "up-and-coming engineer",[citation needed] Robertson was selected by Worthington, Skilling, Helle, and Jackson (WSHJ) to participate in the design of the World Trade Center Twin Towers (1966–1971), his first high rise construction.[2] In 1967 Robertson was made a partner and WSHJ was renamed Skilling, Helle, Christiansen, Robertson. The firm split its operations in 1982, with Robertson renaming the East Coast office Leslie E. Robertson Associates RLLP[3]
Since the collapse of the World Trade Center in 2001, debates about the safety of rent-space-maximized designs have engaged the profession, but most would agree that the design of the World Trade Center actually withstood the impact of the plane with enough time to allow many thousands of occupants to evacuate safely.[4] Robertson's firm later participated in the development of a database of basic structural information for the towers of the World Trade Center (WTC1 and 2) for NIST and FEMA,[5] and to record the undocumented structural changes that had been made to the buildings after construction began.
Robertson has been married for several decades to SawTeen See, an engineer who also has served as business manager of their architectural engineering practice, Leslie E. Robertson Associates (LERA).[6]
1966–1980 |
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1981–2000 |
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2001–2020 |
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2021-present |
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