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Nicholas Forell

German structural engineer

Nicholas F. Forell (1923, February 19, 1998) was a structural engineer and a leading authority in the development of modern earthquake safety design. He was a founder and former president of the San Francisco firm Forell/Elsesser Engineers.

01Early life

Nicholas was born in Züllichau, Germany, in 1923. In 1941, he immigrated to the United States and began living in New York City.

Military service

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Nicholas joined the United States Army in 1942, and was assigned to the Signal Corps (United States Army)' Heavy Construction Battalion operating with British troops in Myanmar.

02Education

Following the war, Nicholas was offered admission to the engineering program at Brown University, and he graduated in 1949. Shortly after graduation, he moved to San Francisco to begin his career at Sverdrup & Parcel.

03Notable projects

04Utah State Capitol historic seismic retrofits

05Published works

  • "Developments in earthquake design codes", 1981
  • "Mexico earthquakes : Oaxaca - November 29, 1978, Guerrero", 1979

06Personal life

Married to Carol Forell. Daughters Katey (finance) and Anne (architect)

Watch videos about Nicholas ForellExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Nicholas Forell, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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