| Although concrete was first used in heating,
cooking, and flooring in parts of Europe and Asia,
the Romans are usually credited as being the first
to use concrete in engineering in 300 B.C. The
concrete used then was made from lime, volcanic
ash, silica, and aluminum, found near Pozzuoli.
Many of the structures created from this mixture
of concrete are still partially standing today.
Such as the Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Theater
at Pompeii, and the Roman baths.
The unreinforced Roman concrete was the standard
for use until 1756, when British engineer John
Smeaton produced the world’s first high-quality
cement for his lighthouse on the English Channel.
Smeaton’s cement was the foundation for
portland cement, invented a few years later
by Joseph Aspdin, who is widely considered the
father of the concrete of modern day.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, builders figured
out how to reinforce concrete with materials
such as iron and steel to make buildings stay
stronger and last longer. The process of reinforcing
concrete, abandoned by the Romans after their
failure using bronze, eventually became extremely
successful and remains the fundamental principal
in modern concrete building materials today.
A refined cement reinforced with alkali-resistant
glass fibers, called glass-fiber reinforced
concrete or G.F.R.C., is currently the industry
standard for quality. This durable concrete
material allows the present-day design of architectural
masterpieces the Ancient Romans could only dream
of.
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