MANGON

FRANCE (see also List of Individuals)

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31.7.1821 Paris/F - 15.5.1888 Paris/F

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Hervé Mangon graduated from Ecole Polytechnique in 1842 and from Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées in 1845. In 1848 he stayed at Sologne plains close to Orléans and may have met Henry Darcy (1803-1858), who was then for several months a chief engineer of the Corps to improve the agriculture of this swampy region. In 1850 Mangon published his first paper by comparing soil conditions of Campine in Belgium with those of Sologne. Mangon was also asked to move to England for studying drainage techniques of which his 1853 book resulted. His approaches were relevant for almost a century.

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Mangon was appointed associate professor of agricultural hydraulics at Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées in 1853. In parallel he was active as a member of Société de Météorologie, of which resulted a twofold further scientific career in rural engineering and meteorology. Mangon worked for three universities in parallel, namely ENPC from 1864 as professor of agricultural hydraulics, and from 1881 as a board member of the journal Annales des Ponts et Chaussées. From 1864 to 1881 Mangon was also a professor of rural engineering at Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers CNAM, where he was particularly in charge of agricultural mechanics. Finally, from 1876 to 1888, he lectured at Institut National Agronomique in Versailles. Besides, Mangon was known in meteorology. He had privately installed in 1868 in the Manche Department a weather station to collect meteorological data which were published in 1889. Mangon was also the director of CNAM from 1880 to 1881 but left in favor of a political career. He was elected Member of Académie des Sciences in 1872 and awarded the title Commander of Légion d'Honneur in 1878.

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_{Hureau, A. de Villeneuve (1888). M. Hervé Mangon. L'Aéronaute 21: 99-107. P}

_{Mangon, H. (1850). Etudes sur les irrigations de la Campine belge et les travaux analogues de la Sologne. Dalmont: Paris.}

_{Mangon, H. (1853). Etudes sur le drainage au point de vue pratique et administratif. Carilian-Goeury: Paris.}

_{Mangon, H. (1863). Instructions pratiques sur le drainage réuni par ordre du Ministre d'Agriculture. Dunod: Paris.}

_{Mangon, H. (1863). Expériences sur l'emploi des eaux dans les irrigations. Dunod: Paris. Montluisant, C. de (1892). Notice biographique sur Hervé Mangon. Céas: Valence. P Vigreux, P. (1994). Mangon, Hervé. Les professeurs du conservatoire national des Arts et Métiers 2: 215-221, C. Fontanon, A. Grelon, eds. CNAM: Paris.}