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ANTON TEDESKO
1903-1994
BY IVAN M. VIEST
ANTON TEDESKO, designer of Tong-span reinforced concrete
shells and of structures for launch facilities for military and
civilian rocketry, died in Seattle, Washington, of myelofibrosis
on April 2, 1994, at the age of ninety. He was associated for
many years with the design firm Roberts and Schaefer, last
. . .
serving as vlce-preslc tent.
Electec! to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in
1967, he served on several Academy committees, particularly dur-
ing its formative years, was always on the lookout for deserving
candidates, en c! attended NAE meetings regularly as an active
participant. Congenial, attentive to his fellow members, and con-
cerned with the well-being of his profession, he became to many
of us over the years Mr. Civil Engineer of the Academy.
Anton was born of Viennese parents on May 25, 1903, in
Germany, and grew up and was eclucated in Austria. He spent
his early years in Vienna, went to high school in Graz Wiener
Neustadt, and pursued academic studies at the Institute of
Technology in Vienna, where he had superb teachers. Anton
considered himself lucky to have studied at the institute dur-
ing the post-WorId War I years, which were a period of great
cultural and intellectual activity in Vienna. Famous men of
many fields lived in the city and influenced the worlds of sci-
ence, art, literature, drama, and music. Anton went to more
than one hundred music and theater events each season. It
263
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264
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
was this deep exposure to the Vienna climate and experiences
that contributed to his well-rounded education. The formal
results of his studies included a civil engineering degree from
the Institute of Technology in Vienna in 1926, a Diploma En-
gineering degree from the Technological University of Berlin
in 1930, and a D.Sc. degree from the Institute of Technology
in Vienna in 1951.
Upon graduation in 1926 and after a brief construction expe-
rience in Vienna, he departed for the United States, where he
spent two years working as a detailer and steel designer. On his
return to Austria he became an assistant at the Institute of Tech
nology under Ernest Melan, professor of steel design and
construction. He was also placed in charge of a team designing
industrial structures. Twenty years later, under Professor Melan,
he wrote a dissertation on his experiences with strain gages
placed inside full-scale long-span concrete structures, which was
the basis for his science doctorate.
In 1930 Tedesko joined Dyckerhoff and Widmann, engi-
neers and constructors known as outstanding builders of
dams, bridges, and tunnels, who pioneered reinforced con-
crete. Tedesko felt fortunate that he was accepted as a
coworker under brilliant and stimulating leaders. Two of
them, UIrich FinsterwaIder and Hubert Rusch, were later elect-
ed foreign associates of the NAE. Tedesko worked on the
design of the Great Market Hall in Budapest and on the de-
tailed analysis of the shell of a large storage hall at Tertres
(Belgium), which became a prototype for many subsequent
structures. One of Dyckerhoff and Widmann's new specialties
was thin-shell concrete construction, and someone came up
with the idea that Tedesko should return to the States and
introduce shell construction to America.
An agreement was signed with Roberts and Schaefer Com-
pany to promote shell construction, and Tedesko joined the
firm's office in Chicago. The depression slowed progress;
many designs were made, few structures were built. Tedesko
traveled by rail all over the United States. He became well
acquainted with different parts of the country and years later
was proud to note that he had been to all fifty states.
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ANTON TEDESKO
265
A major breakthrough came when the Hershey Chocolate
Company wanted to build a shell structure for a sports arena.
Tedesko became, at thirty-three, the designer, organizer, deci-
sion maker, and construction supervisor. When completed in
1936, the Hershey Sports Arena was the longest-span concrete
building structure in the world. Teclesko established his own
rules for the design and construction, which were later adopt-
ed by the industry. Publicity relating to the Hershey Arena
opened the door for other shell structures. World War IT
found Tedesko as the manager of the Roberts and Schaefer
office in Washington, where many shells were designed for
Army, Navy, and Air Force installations. These structures used
a minimum of scarce strategic materials and were built using
inclustrial production methods.
After the war, he became structural manager of Roberts
and Schaefer in Chicago and from 1956 to 1967 served as vice-
president in New York. His responsibilities included
engineering, design, cost estimating, and supervision of con-
struction. Leading architects, such as Minoru Yamasaki and I.
M. Pei, teamed up with him at times. He was responsible for
the coliseum in Denver; ice arenas in Victoria, British Colum-
bia, and Quebec City; and airplane hangars in Buenos Aires,
San Diego, and Rapid City, South Dakota. As a consultant to
the U.S. Air Force Headquarters from 1955 to 1970, he was
involved as a troubleshooter and in decisions leading to inno-
vative solutions for new construction and renovation.
Anton Tedesko en c! his Roberts and Schaefer team worked
on underground launch control center domes for the ballistic
missile division of the Air Force. This led to his involvement in
the development of concepts and criteria for ground instalIa-
tions pertaining to large rockets. He became the responsible
engineer for the launch pad of the Atlas Centaur space vehi-
cle at Cape Canaveral, which includecl a 200-foot movable
tower and a concrete dome control center. This installation
was considered the takeoff point for the first trip to outer
space. It was successful and later led to Tedesko's involvement
in the Apollo manned lunar landing program. He was one of
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266
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
the four principals of URSAM, the multidisciplinary team of
designers and consultants working for the National Aeronau-
tics and Space Administration.
He considered his most exciting assignment that as struc-
tural engineer responsible for the assembly and launch
facilities for the manned lunar landing program, including
the Vehicle Assembly Building, the largest building on record,
built in record time. The project received the 1966 Outstand-
ing Civil Engineering Achievement Award of the American
Society of Civil Engineers. Anton spoke in glowing terms of
his first experience at an Apollo moon launch, the miraculous
lift-off, the enormous sound, and the flames. He was stunned
and shaken by this encounter.
In 1967 he left Roberts and Schaefer and opened his own
office, continuing along the same lines as structural engineer
on high-rise buildings and as a consultant to government agen-
cies, contractors, and other engineers. As an investigator of
~trll~tllr~1 f~illlres he Planned the rehabilitation of damaged
structures, SUCh as the orlclges of the Chicago rapid transit
system. He belonged to the panel of arbitrators of the Arr~eri-
can Arbitration Association. Among his most stimulating
assignments was that of one of three referees in the Federal
Court in North Dakota in connection with the failure of an
eighteen-mile prestressed concrete pipeline.
Tedesko was an invited lecturer at Columbia, Cornell,
Illinois, Kansas, Lehigh, Notre Dame, Princeton, Purdue, and
numerous other universities, and served as a speaker or
moderator at many professional meetings. He steered
graduate programs at North Carolina State and Cornell
Universities. His technical publications, numbering about
seventy, documented many of his structures and contributed
to the advancement of design and construction in both
practical and theoretical aspects. He was active in many
professional groups, serving as a member of the board of
directors of the American Concrete Institute (ACI), director
of a section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE),
and a member of numerous technical committees anti
councils. For nearly eight years he served as the first chairman
of the joint ACI-ASCE Shell Committee, which prepared the
.
~^ ~ ~MA ~ ~_ _ _ j ~ ~
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ANTON TEDESKO
267
basic report on concrete shell practice; he remained a member
of the committee until his cleath. He served many years on the
executive committee of the Reinforced Concrete Research
Council and as a U.S. clelegate on the Permanent Committee
of the International Association for Bridge and Structural
Engineering. He attended congresses in North and South
America, Europe, anal Japan.
Anton Teclesko received numerous awards. He was the first
American recipient of the International Award of Merit in
Structural Engineering given by the International Association
for Briclge anct Structural Engineering. The American Con-
crete Institute gave him the Alfrec! E. Lindau Award and the
Henry C. Turner Mecial for accomplishments in long-span
structures and for innovations and professional competence.
He received the Arthur l. Boase Award in recognition of his
pioneering work en cl his achievements in the field of shell
structures. The American Society of Civil Engineers, the Arner-
ican Concrete Institute, and the International Association for
Shell and Spatial Structures macle him an honorary member.
Lehigh University and the University of Vienna awarded him
honorary doctorates in engineering and in science.
Tedesko had many interests besides engineering. He was an
enthusiastic skier for most of his life and loved the mountains;
his favorite ski vacation spots were in Utah and Colorado. He
rowed in his racing shell during the years he liver! close to Lake
Michigan. The composers whose music he knew best were
Beethoven, Richard Wagner, Gustav MahIer, and Richarc! Strauss.
Anton Tedesko and Sally Murray were married in Chicago and
had two children and four grancichilciren. Daughter Suzanne
produced documentaries and has coHaboratec! with Seattle's public
television station. Son Peter is an electrical engineer and marketing
manager with Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
Anton Teclesko was an outstanding engineer, eminent design-
er, and builder of pleasing and innovative structures, one with a
warm human touch who has given guidance and strength to
many in his profession.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
civil engineers
