Claim: Gustave Eiffel decided to retire from engineering.

Alexandre Gustave Eiffel -LRB- born Bönickhausen ; -LSB- ˈaɪfəl -RSB- -LSB- ɛfɛl -RSB- ; 15 December 1832 -- 27 December 1923 -RRB- was a French civil engineer and architect . A graduate of École Centrale Paris , he made his name with various bridges for the French railway network , most famously the Garabit viaduct . He is best known for the world-famous Eiffel Tower , built for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris , and his contribution to building the Statue of Liberty in New York . After his retirement from engineering , Eiffel focused on research into meteorology and aerodynamics , and making significant contributions in both fields .