André Waterkeyn

Portrait of civil engineer André Waterkeyn, creator of the Atomium in Brussels, in front of a model of his creation (in 1962).

André Waterkeyn (23 August 1917 – 4 October 2005) was a Belgian engineer, born in Wimbledon, best known for creating the Atomium.

Waterkeyn was the economic director of Fabrimetal (now Agoria), a federation of metallurgical companies when in 1954 he was asked to design a building for the 1958 World Expo that would symbolize Belgian engineering skills.

Waterkeyn owned the copyrights of all reproductions of the Atomium until he passed it over to the organisation owning the original building around the years 2000. He was chairman of the board of the Atomium until 2002, when his son took over. He died in Brussels in 2005. After his death, the top sphere and the square where the Atomium is located was named after him.

Field hockey

He was also known as a field hockey player. At the 1948 Summer Olympics he participated with the Belgian team in the field hockey tournament. He played one game as forward.