Keith Olson, age 12, of San Manuel, Ariz,, for her question:

Why was the Eiffel Tower built?

Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was a brilliant architect and engineer and such a gifted person often needs to display his original ideas to get people to try them. Eiffel put some of his original ideas on display for the Paris Exposition of 1889. His show‑case was a tapering tower 984 feet tall. Ordinary visitors to the fair were agog at the tall landmark ‑builders and engineers saw the tower as a demonstration of some of Eiffel's original ideas. The tower was named in honor of its designer and left standing as a landmark when the fair was over. Among other things, Eiffel designed the framework of our Statue of Liberty.