A steelworker’s protective goggles mirror the molten glow of the Bessemer converter, a furnace central to the process that transformed Pittsburgh into one of the world’s leading steel-producing cities.
Developed by Henry Bessemer in the 1850s, the process forced air through molten iron to remove impurities, allowing steel to be produced faster and more efficiently than ever before.
The worker’s reflective lenses capture the light of this innovation, showing the direct relationship between the worker and technological progress.
His expression and gear represent the skill, precision, and endurance required of the workers in the steel mills that defined both Pittsburgh’s industrial identity and America’s rise as a modern nation.