Innovación y tecnología: los transbordadores de Torres Quevedo

Abstract

Industry initiatives in changing the nineteenth to the twentieth century in the Basque Country are an interesting object of study. But the Innovation and Technology overflow the boundaries of the factories, and move to the cities in areas related to transport and communications, leisure, and improving living conditions. Railways, electricity, cars, photography and cinematography, all is based on Innovation and Technology.

A singular example of those years is Leonardo Torres Quevedo and their cable cars. Civil Engineer and closely related to Bilbao, gathers around him the elite of entrepreneurs Bilbao, led by Valentin Gorbeña. In 1906 They constitute the «Society of Research and Engineering Works», a venture capital firm, which aims to «study experimentally the projects or inventions that will be presented by Leonardo Torres Quevedo and put them into practice.» Among the most notable achievements include the Mount Ulia cable car in San Sebastian, and the Spanish Aerocar on the Canadian side of Niagara.

December 2011 is the 75th anniversary of the deaths of Leonardo Torres Quevedo and Miguel de Unamuno, another distinguished citizen of Bilbao. Also this month has died Leonardo Torres-Quevedo Torres-Quevedo (grandson), who like his father Gonzalo, his grandfather, Leonardo, and his great-grandfather Luis Torres Vildósola has been a notable engineer. This article is a brief tribute to the family saga.