Editing Ralph Modjeski (section)

==Career==
After completing his academic training, Modjeski returned to America to begin his career, working first under the "father of American bridge-building," [[George S. Morison (engineer)|George S. Morison]]. In 1893, Modjeski opened his own design office in [[Chicago]]. Joined in 1924 by Frank M. Masters Sr., the firm still exists as Modjeski & Masters.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.modjeski.com/about/history/ |access-date=2023-11-07 |website=Modjeski and Masters |language=en}}</ref>

Modjeski's first project as chief engineer was the [[Government Bridge|railroad bridge]] across the [[Mississippi River]] at [[Rock Island, Illinois]]. During his career, he served as chief or consulting engineer on dozens of bridges across the United States.

He took over the mis-designed [[Quebec Bridge]] after the 1907 disaster that killed seventy-five workers, and succeeded in creating the longest [[Truss bridge|truss span]] in the world (though a construction accident killed another thirteen workers). It is still the longest [[cantilever bridge]] in the world.

Modjeski was the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees. He received a doctorate in engineering from [[Illinois State University]] in 1911, the [[Franklin Medal]] in 1923, a doctorate ''[[honoris causa]]'' from the [[Lwów Polytechnic]] in 1929, and the prestigious [[John Fritz Medal]] in 1930. He was elected to the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1925 and the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1926.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ralph Modjeski |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20000794.html |access-date=2023-08-10 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Ralph+Modjeski&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-08-10 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> In Modjeski's obituary, Frank Masters considered him "one of the world's leading bridge engineers."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Masters |first=Frank |date=1941 |title=Memoir of Ralph Modjeski |journal=Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers |volume=105 |issue=1624}}</ref> A [[List of Pennsylvania state historical markers in Philadelphia County|PHMC Historical Marker]] was dedicated in 2007 in commemoration.