FLACHAT

FRANCE (see also List of Individuals)

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16.7.1802 Paris/F - 16.4.1873 Arcachon/F

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Eugène Flachat was born into the pre-industrial era and therefore experienced great changes. People questioned the merits of the French revolution with the many deaths that it had caused. After studies, a minister asked the two brothers Flachat to propose a project for a maritime canal from Paris to Havre. After five months of intense work, they presented a 450 pages report that demonstrated their capacities. Then, Flachat inclined towards well drilling for supplying drinking water to various cities. He detected his engineering capabilities and developed knowledge in courses and by reading books. He went to England to meet Stephenson and Brunel but returned shortly later to his home country. During the next decade, the practical engineer Flachat was interest in steel production, and then spent another decade for proposing means of transportation for industrial goods. In 1834 the first French railroad at Saint-Germain was designed by Flachat, among others.

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Flachat wrote a book on the elements of the mechanical industry, in which contributions of his professional colleagues are summarized. In 1842 he co-authored a book in which the Rhone-Rhine canal for navigation was presented. Another book gave an overview of works conducted in Bordeaux for the new docks. In the mid 1860s followed two additional books, one on the work progress of the Suez Canal, then a major engineering success, and on steam navigation in America. Besides, Flachat is of course known for his large contributions to French railways, in a way a concurrence of canals. Compared to other mid-European countries, railways were used in France relatively late, given that canals were considered a prime transportation infrastructure.

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_{Anonymous (1898). La vie et les travaux d'Eugène Flachat. Le Génie Civil 33(8): 117-118. P Flachat, E. (1835). Traité élémentaire de mécanique industrielle. Tenré, Dupuy: Paris. Flachat, E. (1855). Projet de docks à Bordeaux. Dupont: Paris.}

_{Flachat, E. (1865). Mémoire sur les travaux de l'isthme de Suez. Lacroix: Paris. Flachat, E. (1866). Navigation à vapeur transocéanienne. Baudry: Paris.}

_{Perrier, A. (1971). Flachat, E. Dictionnaire de biographie française 13: 1429. Letouzey: Paris.}

_{Pétiet, J., Flachat, E. (1842). Rapport sur la situation des travaux et de la navigation du canal du Rhône au Rhin. Mathias: Paris.}

_{Poggendorff, J.C. (1898). Flachat, Eugène. Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch 3:}

_{449. Barth: Leipzig, with bibliography.}

_{Trélat, E. (1898). Eugène Flachat. Revue Scientifique Série 4 9: 801-804.}