Mario Salvadori

Mario G. Salvadori (March 19, 1907 – June 25, 1997) was an American structural engineer and professor of both civil engineering and architecture at Columbia University.

Early life Salvadori was born in Rome, Italy in 1907. His father, Riccardo, an engineer who worked for the telephone company, became the chief engineer of the city of Genoa when the phone company merged with their French counterpart. Salvadori's father later became the head of the gas and electric company in Spain. His mother, Ermelinda Alatri, belonged to a rich Jewish family. Following his father's activities, Salvadori spent many years of his youth in Madrid and only returned to Italy in 1923. Two years later, when he was 18, he started what was the first student jazz band in Italy; one of his youthful dreams was to become a concert conductor, although his parents did not encourage this.

He earned doctoral degrees in both civil engineering and mathematics from the University of Rome in 1930 and 1933, respectively. Then he served as an instructor at Engineering department of the University of Rome and as consultant for Istituto Nazionale per le Applicazioni del Calcolo (INAC), directed by Mauro Picone, his mathematics teacher. Thanks to a grant, he went to London and in the next two years he did graduate research in photoelasticity at University College London, where he was in contact with Jews escaping from Nazi persecutions. Subsequently, when he returned to Rome, Salvadori was a convinced critic of the regime of Benito Mussolini, When he returned to Italy, he saw that there was no hope for a positive change in the political environment. The University of Rome and Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) stripped him of his positions. After this, he and his wife left Italy for good, using the same visa. On the same day he arrived in New York, the CNR restored him as a consultant to INAC, thanks to the influence of Picone.

Career In the United States, Salvadori first worked for the Lionel Train Company until 1940, developing time and motion studies that so impressed the president that he was made an offer to become CEO, which he turned down. During World War II he was – unbeknownst to himself at the time – a consultant on the Manhattan Project for three years. a non-profit educational organization on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, near Columbia University, which aims to show students the relevance of math and science using the buildings, bridges, landmarks, and parks in their local communities.

From 1954 to 1960, Salvadori worked as a consultant and then principal at Weidlinger Associates, an engineering firm in New York City. He then became a partner until 1991, when he became honorary chairman. He was at the time the James Renwick Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering and Applied Science and Professor of Architecture Emeritus at Columbia. 1991: Pupin Medal, Columbia University, for outstanding service to the nation in architecture and engineering Why Buildings Fall Down (1992), and Why The Earth Quakes (1995). The last two were co-written with Matthys Levy .

At least three of his books are classified as for children by the Library of Congress (LCSH). Building: the fight against gravity, illustrated by Saralinda Hooker and Christopher Ragus (Atheneum: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 1979), Earthquake Games: earthquakes and volcanoes explained by 32 games and experiments, Matthys Levy and Salvadori, illus. Christina C. Blatt (McElderry, 1997), Math Games for Middle School: challenges and skill-builders for students at every level, Salvadori and Joseph P. Wright (Chicago Review Press, 1998), Building: the fight against gravity won the annual Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Nonfiction in 1980.

Salvadori is also known for his translation of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks into English, and of Emily Dickinson's poems into Italian.