author
Harry Clow Boardman
1887–1956
A civil engineer by training, he turned a student thesis into a detailed account of one of the world’s great engineering feats. His writing on the Panama Canal captures both the scale of the project and the practical thinking behind it.
1 Audiobook
The Panama Canal
by Harry Clow Boardman
About the author
Born in Plainfield, Illinois, in 1887, Harry Clow Boardman studied civil engineering at the University of Illinois. His best-known work, The Panama Canal, began as his 1910 bachelor’s thesis and reflects a strong interest in large-scale engineering, planning, and public works.
Boardman is remembered today mainly through that book, which explains the history, design, and construction challenges of the canal in a clear, technical style. It stands out as the work of someone writing close to the era of the canal’s completion, with the perspective of an engineer rather than a literary storyteller.
He died in 1956. Although not a widely famous author, his work remains of interest to readers drawn to engineering history and the ambitious infrastructure projects that helped shape the modern world.