Gustave Eiffel - Early Life

Early Life

Gustave Eiffel was born in Dijon, in the Côte-d'Or department of France, the first child of Alexandre and Catherine Eiffel. The family was descended from Jean-René Bönickhausen, who emigrated from Marmagen and settled in Paris at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The family adopted the name Eiffel as a reference to the Eifel mountains in the region from which it had come. Although the family always used the name Eiffel, Gustave's name was registered at birth as Bönickhausen, and was not formally changed to Eiffel until 1880.

At the time of Gustave's birth his father, an ex-soldier, was working as an administrator for the French Army but shortly after his birth his mother expanded a charcoal business she had inherited from her parents to include a coal-distribution business and soon afterwards his father gave up his job to assist her. Due to his mother's business commitments, Gustave spent his childhood living with his grandmother, but nevertheless remained close to his mother, who was to remain an influential figure until her death in 1878. The business was successful enough for Catherine Eiffel to sell the business in 1843 and retire on the proceeds. Eiffel was not a studious child, and thought his classes at the Lycée Royal in Dijon boring and a waste of time, although in his last two years, influenced by his teachers for history and literature, he began to study seriously, so that he managed to gain his baccalauréats in humanities and science. An important part in his education was played by his uncle, Jean-Baptiste Mollerat, who had invented a process for distilling vinegar and had a large chemical works near Dijon, and one of his uncle's friends, the chemist Michel Perret. Both men spent a lot of time with the young Eiffel, teaching him about everything from chemistry and mining to theology and philosophy.

Eiffel went on to attend the Collège Sainte-Barbe in Paris, in order to prepare for the difficult entrance exams set by the most important engineering colleges in France. Eiffel had hoped to enter the École Polytechnique, but his tutors decided that his performance was not good enough, and instead he qualified for entry to the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in Paris, which offered a rather more vocational training. During his second year chose to specialise in chemistry, and graduated 13th of the 80 candidates in 1855. This was the year that Paris hosted the first World's Fair, and Eiffel was bought a season ticket by his mother