BIENVENÜE

FRANCE (see also List of Individuals)

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27.1.1852 Uzel/F - 3.8.1936 Paris/F

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The water supply and wastewater removal of the French capital attracted a number of outstanding engineers, who have greatly contributed to the science of hydraulics. The Service was first taken over by Henry Darcy (1803-1858) in 1848 but shortly later passed on to Jules Dupuit (1804-1866) and then to Eugène Belgrand (1810-1878). At the latter's death, the position passed on to Adolphe Alphand (1817-1891).

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Fulgence Bienvenüe graduated in 1870 from Ecole Polytechnique and completed engineering studies at Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées two years later. He then moved to Alençon for almost 10 years working mainly as a railroad engineer, until being called to Paris in 1884 to participate in railway projects first, and then to the metropolitan system. After Alphand's death, his position was subdivided into the city sanitation service directed by Georges Bechmann (1848-1927) and the diversion service taken over by Bienvenüe. Within two years, the latter completed the Arve Aqueduct, a 102 km long main sewer transporting some 100,000 m3 sewage daily to the sewage fields downstream of Paris. The design included various inverted siphons and a large compensation reservoir to reduce discharge fluctuations. Today, Bienvenüe is known as the father of the Paris Metropolitan, of which the first portion was inaugurated during Exposition Universelle in 1900. He had to fight with poor soil conditions, water and tunneling for more than another 30 years until being retired in 1932. One Metro station has kept his name to remember a great engineer who had made major contributions to his profession in one of the largest cities of Europe. Bienvenüe was also awarded the Gold Medal of Paris city in 1924 and the Grand Cross of Légion d'Honneur in 1929.

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_{Albert-Roulhac, G. (1966). Bienvenüe - Constructeur de Métro. Bâtir 146: 54-60. P Anonymous (1937). Fulgence Bienvenüe: Réalisateur du Métropolitain. Perceval: Paris. P Berton, C., Ossadzow, A., Filloles, C. (1998). Fulgence Bienvenüe et la construction du Métropolitain de Paris. Presses de l'Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées: Paris. P}

_{Bertron, C., Ossadzow, A. (2004). Fulgence Bienvenüe et la desserte métropolitaine des gares parisiennes. L'art de l'ingénieur de Perronet à Caquot: 175-186. Presses ENPC: Paris. Ossadzow, A. (1994). Un Breton en Normandie et à Paris: Fulgence Bienvenüe. La Jaune et la Rouge 498: 41-49.}

_{Suquet, L. (1936). Notice nécrologique sur M. Fulgence Bienvenüe, Inspecteur Général des Ponts et Chaussées, Grand Croix de la Légion d'Honneur. Annales des Ponts et Chaussées 106(2): 705-712. P}