Smeaton, John (1724-1792), a British engineer, designed the third Eddystone lighthouse off the English coast, near Plymouth. Disregarding the advice of other engineers, he built it of specially shaped stone blocks that fit tightly together. Smeaton began building the lighthouse in 1756, and he finished it in 1759. The lighthouse was dismantled in 1882, and it was rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe, a grassy area overlooking Plymouth Sound. Smeaton also designed and built bridges, water mills, harbor works, canals, drainage works, and other projects. He greatly improved the Newcomen steam engine. He was the first person to call himself a civil engineer, and in 1771 he founded the Society of Civil Engineers. Smeaton was born on June 8, 1724, in Austhorpe, near Leeds, England. He died on Oct. 28, 1792.
