At the turn of this century, the world is seeing a proliferation of giant circulating tension-wheel structures—the most visible of them the London Eye towering over the Thames River in England. Since 2001, this 443-foot (135-meter) tall observation wheel has become one of London’s main tourist attractions. The London structure reigned as the biggest Ferris wheel in the world until 2006 when it was unseated by China’s 525-foot (160-meter) Star of Nanchang wheel.

Recently, no fewer than three dozen giant Ferris wheels have made headline news and drawn crowds around the globe, mostly in Asia. According to Popular Mechanics, there is currently a "big-money race" to build the world’s tallest Ferris wheel. "When it comes to status symbols, nothing beats a circle. These wheels have almost replaced the skyscraper as icons," noted a March 2008 article.

Today’s tallest Ferris wheel is the Singapore Flyer, which opened in 2008. The 541-foot (165-meter) steel tension-wheel structure, however, will soon be displaced by wheels more than 600 feet tall. Two of them—the Great Berlin Wheel in Germany and the Great Dubai Wheel on the Persian Gulf—will each be 607 feet (185 meters) tall. Others in the works are even bigger (closer to 650-feet tall), including massive Ferris wheels in Las Vegas and Baghdad, Iraq. Poised to debut sometime in 2009, will be the world’s newest titleholder—the Great Wheel of China, a 682-foot (208-meter) structure in Beijing. Originally scheduled for unveiling before the 2008 Summer Olympics, it was delayed for construction and political reasons.

Until (and if) the Las Vegas wheel is built, the tallest Ferris wheel in North America will be the 400-foot (122-meter) Orlando Wheel in Florida, scheduled to open in 2010. It will displace America’s current tallest wheel, the 213-foot (65-meter) Texas Star in Dallas, which began spinning in 1985. The Texas Star is almost identical in size to the current record holder for being the world’s longest-running Ferris wheel—the 1897 Riesenrad in Prater Park in Vienna, Austria. Yet both of these historic wheels are smaller than the original creation—the 265-foot (81-meter) Ferris Wheel. This iconic structure was the centerpiece of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago and America’s answer to the Eiffel Tower (the hit of the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris).

But, very little is known about the steel tension wheel’s inventor and builder, a daring young structural engineer from western Nevada named George Washington Gale
Ferris, Jr. This Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14, 2009) marks the 150th anniversary of Ferris’s birth. To commemorate the event and Ferris himself, ASCE Press is publishing the only book ever written about Ferris—Circles in the Sky—which I wrote.

Although much has been written about Ferris’s incredible tension-wheel creation, little is known about Ferris. In Circles in the Sky, I reveal secrets about this mysterious and iconic engineer by delving into both his personal and engineering life—including where he came from, what led him to develop the greatest wheel ever invented, and how, in the end, his creation consumed him.

I noted in the book, "Tall, handsome, and dashing, Ferris was an imposing figure, a legend in his own time. He commanded attention wherever he went long before he became an international figure. As the creator of one of 19th century’s most imaginative inventions, the young U.S. civil/structural engineer did what no other individual of his time could do, and because of it he experienced world recognition beyond anyone’s wildest dreams."

Circles in the Sky can be ordered directly from me at rweingardt@aol.com, through ASCE Press via bkulamer@asce.org, or at www.amazon.com and other major booksellers.

Richard G. Weingardt, P.E., is CEO and chairman of Richard Weingardt Consultants, Inc., a Denver-based structural engineering firm. He can be reached via e-mail at rweingardt@gostructural.com.