André Waterkeyn (23 August 1917 – 4 October 2005) was a Belgian engineer, born in Wimbledon, best known for creating the

Atomium The Atomium ( , , ) is a landmark building in Brussels, Belgium, originally constructed for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair ( Expo '58). It is located on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Laeken (northern part of the City of Brussels), where the ex ...

. Waterkeyn was the economic director of Fabrimetal (now Agoria), a federation of metallurgical companies when in 1954 he was asked to design a building for the 1958 World Expo that would symbolize

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

engineering skills. Waterkeyn owned the

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

s of all reproductions of the Atomium until he passed it over to the organisation owning the original building around the years 2000. He was chairman of the board of the Atomium until 2002, when his son took over. He died in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in 2005. After his death, the top sphere was named after him. van Capelleveen, R., 2011. André Waterkeyn (1917-2005) Belgische ingenieur. nlineAbsolutefacts.nl. Available at: ccessed 25 May 2022

References

1917 births 2005 deaths Belgian architects Structural engineers Belgian male field hockey players Olympic field hockey players of Belgium Field hockey players at the 1948 Summer Olympics {{Belgium-architect-stub