RENNIE, GEORGE, an eminent English civil engineer, and the eldest son of Jolts was born in Surrey, Jan. 3, 179l, and at the age of 16 entered the Edinburgh univer• sity, being placed under the charge of prof. Mayfair, in whose house earl Russell, then an Edinburgh student, also at that time resided. After attending a course of classics, mathematics, chemistry, and natural philosophy, he returned to London in 1811, and commenced the practical study of engineering under his father. In 1818 he was appointed the superintendent of the machinery of the mint, and at the same time aided his father in the planning and designing of several of his later works. After his father's death in 1821, Rennie entered into partnership with his younger brother, John (after ward sir John Rennie). as engineers and machinery constructors; and during the exist ence of the firm it carried on an immense business, including the execution of most of the works which had been planned by the elder Rennie, and the completion of those which he had left unfinished. Their operations included the construction of bridges, harbors, docks, ship-yard and dredging machinery, steam factories, both in Great Britain and on the continent, and many of the great naval works at Sebastopol, Cronstadt, Odessa.
Nicolaiev, and in the principal ports of England; they also made the coining machinery for the mints at Calcutta, Bombay, Lisbon, Mexico, and Peru; the biscuit, chocolate, and flour-mills at Deptford, Gosport. and Plymouth; and furnished marine engines for the war-ships of England, Russia, France, Italy, Mexico, etc. Besides these multifari ous labors, they built ships both of wood and iron, drained large tracts of land in the midland counties of England. and Rennie superintended the construction of several con tinental railways. Ile was elected a fellow of the royal society in 1822, and was sub sequently enrolled in similar societies at Dublin, Turin. Rotterdam, etc. He is author of "Experiments on the Strength of Materials," "The Frictions of Solids," and, "The Frictions of Fluids," published in the Philosophical Transactions. He also con tributed memoirs to the, Transactions of the civil engineers. He died March 30, 1806. His brother, sir Joux, was knighted on the occasion of the opening of the new London bridge (1831), which he executed from his father's designs. He designed and executed Southwark and Waterloo bridges, and completed the drainage of the Lincolnshire coast, begun by his father. He died 1874.