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What’s New: September 2024
This month’s update, introduced by David Cannadine, reviews the ODNB on its 20th anniversary. First published in September 2004, the ODNB has since added 8000 biographies, and notably completed 20 annual releases of recent lives, which now cover 2001 to 2020, creating an important national record.
Featured
Smeaton, John (1724–1792), civil engineer
The civil engineer John Smeaton, born near Leeds, Yorkshire in 1724, began his career as a scientific instrument maker. His reputation as an engineer was established by his work on the second Eddystone lighthouse, near Plymouth, completed in 1759 and the ‘prototype of all subsequent masonry lighthouses built in the open sea’.
