Gotthard Base Tunnel opened
Located in Swiss Alps, the Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT) is the world's longest railway and deepest traffic tunnel. The GBT has a route length of 57.09 km (35.5 mi) and consists of a huge complex with, at its core, two single-track tunnels. It is the first flat, low-level route through the Alps or any other major mountain range, with a maximum elevation of 549 m (1,801 ft) above sea level, corresponding to that of Bern.
Jorj O. Osterberg died
Jorj O. Osterberg was a pioneer of geotechnical engineering, recognizing for his innovative contributions in soil sampling and testing. Dr. Osterbern also had a distinguished career with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as being a consultant and a teacher. He was also Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University, and had also received various honors and awards, including being ASCE's Terzaghi Lecturer in 1985.
The Channel Tunnel opened to freight trains
Located beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover, the Channel Tunnel is a 50.46-kilometre (31.35 mi) underwater railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles (Hauts-de-France, France). With an underwater section of 37.9 kilometres (23.5 mi), the tunnel carries high-speed Eurostar passenger trains, the Eurotunnel Shuttle for road vehicles and international freight trains. It consists of two rail tunnels and a service tunnel, for the drilling of which eleven tunnel boring machines (TBMs) were used.
Bosphorus Bridge was completed
The Bosphorus Bridge, known officially as the 15 July Martyrs Bridge and colloquially as the First Bridge, is the southernmost of the three suspension bridges spanning the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul, Turkey, thus connecting Europe and Asia. It is a gravity-anchored suspension bridge with steel towers and inclined hangers. The aerodynamic deck hangs on steel cables. It is 1,560 m (5,118 ft) long with a deck width of 33.40 m (110 ft). The distance between the towers (main span) is 1,074 m (3,524 ft) and the total height of the towers is 165 m (541 ft). The clearance of the bridge from sea level is 64 m (210 ft).
Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot was born
Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot was a French mechanical engineer in the French Army, military scientist and physicist, and often described as the "father of thermodynamics". In his only book, the Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire (Paris, 1824), he expressed the first successful theory of the maximum efficiency of heat engines and laid the foundations of the new discipline of thermodynamics. Based on purely technical concerns, such as improving the performance of the steam engine, Sadi Carnot's intellect laid the groundwork for modern science technological designs, such as the automobile or jet engine.
1786 Kangding-Luding earthquake
An earthquake occurred on 1 June 1786 in and around Kangding, in what is now China's Sichuan province. It had an estimated magnitude of about 7.75 and a maximum perceived intensity of X (Extreme) on the Mercalli intensity scale.
