La Tour Eiffel

The fellow above is one Gustave Eiffel, number 117 on the hero list was born this day 1832in Djion, France. Of course his famous for the tower that bears his name, and for that his hero status is based. At first, the people of France and Paris hated the tower, and called it his folly. However, since then it has become THE symbol of Paris, used in countless movies, and visited by millions of tourists every year. Even your faithful author has made it to visit the iconic tower, and managed to get his picture taken by some French con artist selling pictures of them at the tower to tourist. That little incident almost led to blows being exchanged until I realize that beating up a Frenchman was not really fair. The tower is 1,063 feet tall making it the tall building in Paris, and for a (not so small fee) you can even get a ride to the top. He also had a large part to play in designing the Statute of Liberty, so all in all not a bad career. And he did design a lot of other buildings in several other countries, but for the Tower and Lady Liberty, Gustave Eiffel (December 15th, 1832-December 27th, 1923, at the age of 91), you are my hero of the day.