André Waterkeyn [SEP] date of birth
André Waterkeyn
André Waterkeyn (23 August 1917 – 4 October 2005) was a Belgian engineer, born in Wimbledon, best known for creating the Atomium.
Waterkeyn was the economic director of Fabrimetal (now Agoria), a federation of metallurgical companies when in 1954 he was asked to design a building for the 1958 World Expo that would symbolize Belgian engineering skills.
Waterkeyn owned the copyrights of all reproductions of the Atomium until he passed it over to the organisation owning the original building around the years 2000. He was
Atomium
The Atomium ( ) is a landmark building in Brussels, originally constructed for the 1958 Brussels World Expo (Expo 58). It is located on the Heysel Plateau, where the exhibition took place. It is now a museum.
Designed by the engineer André Waterkeyn and architects André and Jean Polak, it stands tall. Its nine diameter stainless steel clad spheres are connected, so that the whole forms the shape of a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Tubes of diameter connect the spheres