STEVENSON

UNITED KINGDOM (see also List of Individuals)

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11.1.1815 Edinburgh/ UK - 17.7.1886 North Berwick/UK

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David Stevenson was the third son of the engineer Robert Stevenson. Being educated at Edinburgh University, David studied from 1835 diving bell works at Kingstown Harbour and worked with his father on pier construction and also traveled through Europe and America to gain engineering experience during which trip he also prepared his Sketch on the civil engineering in North America. In 1838, David entered into partnership with his father and brother Alan to become Robert Stevenson & Sons. Work included navigational improvement in Scotland, England and Ireland. He also advised on salmon fishing disputes which led to the 1842 paper of the Royal Society, Edinburgh.

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Stevenson in 1842 correctly propounded the theory of the origin of bars at the mouths of rivers and defined effective measures for their removal. His practice of marine engineering was promoted through his Inland navigation article contributed to the 8th edition of Encyclopedia Britannica, and later enlarged into his 1858 book Canal and river engineering. In 1853, Stevenson succeeded his brother as engineer to the Northern Lighthouse Board resulting in the most northerly lighthouse at North Unst under difficult circumstances. The business of what had become the firm of D. & T. Stevenson flourished under Stevenson's management until his retirement because of ill health in 1884. In 1844, he had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh serving as vice-president from 1873 to 1877, and also of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Stevenson was a man of sound judgement, upright, kind, open and easily accessible.

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_{Paxton, R. (2004). David Stevenson. Oxford dictionary of national biography 52: 573-574. P}

_{Stevenson, D. (1842). A treatise on the application of marine surveying and hydrometry to the practice of civil engineering. Black: Edinburgh.}

_{Stevenson, D. (1850). On the art of navigation. The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal}

_{13(5): 165-168.}

_{Stevenson, D. (1859). Sketch of the civil engineering of North America. Weale: London, 2nd ed. Stevenson, D. (1864). Lighthouses. Black: Edinburgh.}

_{Stevenson, D. (1872). The principles and practice of canal and river engineering. Black: Edinburgh. Stevenson, D. (1878). Life of Robert Stevenson, civil engineer. Black: Edinburgh. Stevenson, D.A. (2002). World's lighthouses before http://www.bellrock.org.uk/stevensons/stevenson_david.htm 1820. Dover: Mineola. http://www.bellrock.org.uk/stevensons/stevenson_david.htm P}