# Eiffel Tower Usefulness **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [February 4, 2011, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eiffel-tower-usefulness/570144 "2011-02-04T14:01:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eiffel-tower-usefulness/570144/21 "2011-02-06T22:43:39Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > At the time the Washington Monument was _designed_, when the United States was in the throes of rapturous neoclassicism (England and France talked of ancient Greece and Rome, but we, we knew in our bones that we were the new Romans), obelisks were the height of cool. But various scandals and delays, amounting to two full generations, had put obelisks well over the horizon of fashion by the time it was finished, and would probably seem far more grotesque to us than it does if it did not have the good fortune to be the World Famous Washington (Father of his Country) Monument. We were also fortunate that they never had the full funds to make the [original design](http://www.tnr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/thumbnail_landing/monument-with-white.jpg). That included a colonnade with a large statue of General Washington riding off in a chariot. Instead, the founders of the Washington National Monument Society simply decided to build the obelisk itself. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eiffel-tower-usefulness/570144/22 "2011-02-07T01:48:51Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The book to read is [Eiffel’s Tower: And the World’s Fair Where Buffalo Bill Beguiled Paris, the Artists Quarreled, and Thomas Edison Became a Count, by Jill Jonnes](http://www.amazon.com/Eiffels-Tower-Buffalo-Beguiled-Quarreled/dp/0670020605)… Seconded. I read this last year, and recommend it. You get a good sense of the politics, showmanship and engineering that went into the Eiffel Tower, as well as the fun and excitement of the Exposition. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eiffel-tower-usefulness/570144/23 "2011-02-07T13:20:27Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > I will attest, having climbed the Eiffel Tower many a time, that the iron structure is very stable even in very high winds. It just does not seem to flex of move at all, like one might expect a steel structure to do. Couldn’t this be attributed to the winds blowing through it rather than around it? ---
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eiffel-tower-usefulness/570144/24 "2011-02-09T18:36:15Z")
How could this thread have gone this far without mentioning Franz Reichalt’s parachute coat? [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BepyTSzueno/hqdefault.jpg "Franz Reichelt - Eiffel Tower Jump") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BepyTSzueno) ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eiffel-tower-usefulness/570144/25 "2011-02-09T20:59:03Z")
> [@TravisFromOR](#): > > How could this thread have gone this far without mentioning Franz Reichalt’s parachute coat? It couldn’t. Check post #10 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eiffel-tower-usefulness/570144/26 "2011-02-09T21:52:22Z")
Surprised no one’s mentioned [broadcasting](http://www.tour-eiffel.com/faq/95-la-tour-eiffel-et-lhistoire-des-transmissions). The first radio transmitter went up in 1903, the first [television](http://www.thevalvepage.com/tvyears/articals/france/line180/line180.htm) in 1935. It’s still used this way. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eiffel-tower-usefulness/570144/27 "2011-02-09T22:42:30Z")
> [@TravisFromOR](#): > > How could this thread have gone this far without mentioning Franz Reichalt’s parachute coat? > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BepyTSzueno](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BepyTSzueno) Ouch. He needed one of these: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4U6T\_BB1N8&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4U6T_BB1N8&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eiffel-tower-usefulness/570144/28 "2011-02-10T01:03:15Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Surprised no one’s mentioned [broadcasting](http://www.tour-eiffel.com/faq/95-la-tour-eiffel-et-lhistoire-des-transmissions). The first radio transmitter went up in 1903, the first [television](http://www.thevalvepage.com/tvyears/articals/france/line180/line180.htm) in 1935. It’s still used this way. What about the mention of radio in post #12? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eiffel-tower-usefulness/570144/29 "2011-02-10T01:45:53Z")
Buried. Nyaaah. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eiffel-tower-usefulness/570144.md?page=1)