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Biography

Goethals was born in Brooklyn, New York. He studied at the College of the City of New York before attending the United States Military Academy at West Point, from which he graduated in 1880. That same year he was appointed second lieutenant in the United States Army Corps of EngineersThe United States Army Corps of Engineers or USACE is made up of some 34,600 civilian and 650 military men and women. The Corps' mission is to provide engineering services to the United States, including: Planning, designing, building and operating dams a. He taught civil and military engineering at the academy until 18881888 is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). In Germany, 1888 is known as the 1888 Year of Three Emperors. Events January 3 91cm telescope first used at Lick Observatory January 12 ? Blizzards in Dakota and Montana, Minnesota, Nebr. By 1891Events January 1 ? Paying of old age pensions begins in Germany January 20 James Hogg becomes the first native Texan to be governor of that state. January 29 Liliuokalani proclaimed Queen of Hawaii March 9 ? 12 ? Powerful storm off England?s south coast; had risen to captain.

In 1907Events January events January 6 Maria Montessori opens her first school and daycare center for working class children in Rome Casa dei Bambini in San Lorenzo). January 14 An earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica kills more than a 1,000 January 23 Charles Curtis US PresidentThe President of the United States is the head of state of the United States. Under the U. Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and commander in chief of the armed forces. Because of the superpower status of th Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt Order 26th President Term of Office September 14, 1901 March 4, 1909 Predecessor William McKinley Successor William Howard Taft Date of Birth Wednesday, October 27, 1858 Place of Birth New York City Date of Death Monday, January 6, 1919 appointed George Washington Goethals chief engineer of the Panamal Canal. The building of the Canal had met with many difficulties and delays under previous chiefs. Goethals did much to make operations more efficient throughout the Canal project, with great attention to details large and small. A major part of his success was his particular attention to sanitation and control of disease carrying mosquitoThis article is about the insect; for the WWII aircraft see De Havilland Mosquito. See text. Mosquitoes are insects belonging to the order Diptera; genera include Anopheles Culex Psorophora Ochlerotatus Aedes Sabethes Wyeomyia Culiseta and Haemagoggus fors, which greatly reduced incidence of disease and death among Canal workers.

In 1914Events January 4 77 seal hunters freeze to death on ice near Labrador January 5 Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor February 13 Copyright: In New York City the ASCAP (for American Society of Compos Goethals saw the completion of the Canal almost a full year ahead of schedule. President Woodrow Wilson then appointed him the first civil governor of the Panama Canal Zone. In 1915 Goethals was awarded the rank of major general. He retired on 15 November, 1916. A famous palindrome is dedicated to him: A man, a plan, a canal — Panama!

Following the USA entry into World War I in 1917 Goethals worked as manager of the Emergency Fleet and then quartermaster general of the U.S. Army. After the war he headed his own private consulting civil and electrical engineering firm in New York City until his death in 1928.