Wikipedia:Today's featured article/June 8, 2013

Norman Selfe (1839–1911) was an Australian engineer, naval architect, inventor, urban planner and outspoken advocate of technical education. After immigrating to Sydney with his family from England as a boy he became an apprentice engineer, following his father's trade. Selfe designed many bridges, docks, boats, and much precision machinery for the city. He also introduced new refrigeration, hydraulic, electrical and transport systems. For these achievements he received international acclaim during his lifetime. Decades before the Sydney Harbour Bridge was built, the city came close to building a Selfe-designed steel cantilever bridge across the harbour after he won the second public competition for a bridge design. Selfe was commemorated in his lifetime by the name of the Sydney suburb of Normanhurst. He was energetically involved in organisations such as the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts and the Australian Historical Society, and fought consistently for the establishment of an independent system of technical education. He was acknowledged upon his death as one of the best-known people in, and greatest individual influences upon, the city of Sydney.

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