Josef Melan

Josef Melan (1854–1941) was an Austrian engineer. He is regarded as one of the most important pioneers of reinforced concrete bridge-building at the end of the 19th century. Josef Melan is credited as the inventor of the Melan System, a method for the construction of reinforced bridges. The Melan System differed from previous reinforced bridges because Melan did not build iron bars into the reinforced concrete bridge structure, but used rigid truss arches made of iron. Melan became famous in 1898 after building a 42.4 m bridge with a very shallow arch in Steyr. At that time, this was the largest reinforced concrete bridge in the world. He also built the Dragon Bridge in Ljubljana.