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Skyscraper pioneer Fazlur Rahman Khan rises in Google Doodle

Khan is known for designing the Sears Tower, which held the title of the world's tallest building for 25 years.

Katie Collins Senior European Correspondent
Katie a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET's European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET's Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a "living synth" by London's Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand.
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Khan revolutionized tall building design.

 Google

Google celebrated the 88th birthday of structural engineer and architect Fazlur Rahman Khan with a skyscraper-themed Doodle on Monday.

Khan, who was born in Bangladesh, died in 1982. He was famous for pioneering "tubular design" for high-rise buildings and designing the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center.

"As a youth my father never imagined that one day he would be building skyscrapers," said his daughter Yasmin Sabina Khan. "A humanitarian in his personal as well as professional life, he was inspired by the belief that his work had a positive impact and he encouraged other engineers not to lose track of the purpose of their profession."

When in 1972 he was named Construction's Man of the Year, he said: "The technical man must not be lost in his own technology. He must be able to appreciate life, and life is art, drama, music and, most importantly, people."