BÉGHIN

FRANCE (see also List of Individuals)

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16.9.1876 Lille/F - 22.2.1969 Paris/F

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Henri Béghin graduated from Ecole Nationale Supérieure ENS Paris in 1897 as a mathematician and then lectured in naval engineering for the following decade. He was appointed professor of mechanics at Brest Naval School, moved in 1921 to the University of Montpellier during which time he submitted a PhD thesis to Paris University. From 1924 to 1929 Beghin was a mechanics professor at University of Lille and in 1932 he became professor and director of Laboratoire de Mécanique physique et expérimentale at Sorbonne, Paris. In parallel he was also a mechanics professor at Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique, Paris. From 1946 to 1969 he in addition served as an honorary professor at Ecole Polytechnique.

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Béghin is known for works related to gyroscopes. In fluid mechanics he contributed two articles to a French encyclopedia, treating elementary hydrodynamics, and advances in mathematics. During all his life, he fought for two things: Triumph the subject, and serving the advance of mechanics. In this double combat, he added passion, sometimes even effervescence because he had a character not always simple. Like his "friend" the gyrostat, he had reactions that were not always very flexible in appearance but if you would know him could obtain all what you desired from him. All having approached him paid a sincere tribute to his clear judgment and to his fidelity in friendship. He was awarded Prix Montyon in 1940, was elected Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur, and he was a Member of Académie des Sciences from 1946. A commemoration plaque was mounted at Boulevard Raspail, where he had lived in Paris.

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_{Anonymous (1968). Henri Béghin. Nouveau dictionnaire national des contemporains 5: 55-56.}

_{Paris. P}

_{Anonymous (1969). Notice nécrologique sur Henri Béghin, Membre de la Section de Mécanique. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Paris, Vie Académique 268: 108-111. Béghin, H. (1921). Statique et dynamique. Collin: Paris.}

_{Béghin, H., Monfraix, P. (1926). Sur l'application de l'asservissement à la stabilisation des navires. 2 IUTAM Congress Zurich: 225-230.}

_{Béghin, H. (1929). Leçons sur la mécanique des fluides. Paris.}

_{Charle, C., Telkes, E. (1989). Béghin, Henri. Les professeur de la faculté des sciences de Paris: 31-33. CNRS: Paris.}

_{Poggendorff, J.C. (1936). Béghin, Henri. Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch 6: 160;}

_{7b: 286; 8: 305-306. Akademie-Verlag: Berlin, with bibliography.}