ENGINEERS from Ireland

Top 2

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Irish Engineers of all time. This list of famous Irish Engineers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener (1850 - 1916)

With an HPI of 60.91, Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener is the most famous Irish Engineer.  His biography has been translated into 48 different languages on wikipedia.

Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener (; 24 June 1850 – 5 June 1916) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator. Kitchener came to prominence for his imperial campaigns, his involvement in the Second Boer War, and his central role in the early part of the First World War. Kitchener was credited in 1898 for having won the Battle of Omdurman and securing control of the Sudan, for which he was made Baron Kitchener of Khartoum. As Chief of Staff (1900–1902) in the Second Boer War he played a key role in Lord Roberts' conquest of the Boer Republics, then succeeded Roberts as commander-in-chief – by which time Boer forces had taken to guerrilla fighting and British forces imprisoned Boer and African civilians in concentration camps. His term as Commander-in-Chief (1902–1909) of the Army in India saw him quarrel with another eminent proconsul, the Viceroy Lord Curzon, who eventually resigned. Kitchener then returned to Egypt as British Agent and Consul-General (de facto administrator). In 1914, at the start of the First World War, Kitchener became Secretary of State for War, a Cabinet Minister. One of the few to foresee a long war, lasting for at least three years, and having the authority to act effectively on that perception, he organised the largest volunteer army that Britain had seen, and oversaw a significant expansion of material production to fight on the Western Front. Despite having warned of the difficulty of provisioning for a long war, he was blamed for the shortage of shells in the spring of 1915 – one of the events leading to the formation of a coalition government – and stripped of his control over munitions and strategy. On 5 June 1916, Kitchener was making his way to Russia on HMS Hampshire to attend negotiations with Tsar Nicholas II when in bad weather the ship struck a German mine 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of Orkney, Scotland, and sank. Kitchener was among 737 who died; he was the highest-ranking British officer to die in action in the entire war.

2. Robert Mallet (1810 - 1881)

With an HPI of 46.19, Robert Mallet is the 2nd most famous Irish Engineer.  Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Robert Mallet (3 June 1810 – 5 November 1881) was an Irish geophysicist, civil engineer, and inventor who distinguished himself by research concerning earthquakes (and is sometimes known as the father of seismology). His son, Frederick Richard Mallet, was a geologist who worked in India.