LÉAUTÉ

FRANCE (see also List of Individuals)

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26.4.1847 Balize/Belize - 5.11.1916 Paris/F

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Henry Léauté moved as a boy from the former British Honduras to France. Once having graduated from Ecole Polytechnique he entered the Corps des ingénieurs des manufactures in Toulouse. After having participated in the Franco-Prussian War he specialized in mathematics and submitted a PhD thesis in 1876. One year later he was appointed Lecturer at Ecole Polytechnique. Léauté's career was characterized by a twofold interest in pure mathematics and applied mechanics. In the latter he presented papers on the friction pattern of pivots, and on transmission characteristics of metallic cables. He collected observations on the elastic deformation of circular members and the distribution of stresses in cylindrical bands. In 1885 he investigated long-period oscillations of hydraulic motors, as were then called the turbine-type hydraulic machinery. He further presented methods to inhibit these disturbances by gates and published a work on the methods of graphical dynamics. His most important contributions to science were certainly the papers on dynamics. Starting in 1892, Léauté also collaborated to the Scientific encyclopedia of leaflets including mainly topics in biology and engineering sciences.

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Léauté was an Officer of Légion d'Honneur from 1885. In 1890 he was elected Member of Académie des Sciences, Paris, and was appointed professor of mechanics at Ecole Polytechnique in 1895. During the last years, Léauté's interest was mainly in electrical engineering. He also presided over the mechanical sciences section during the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris. Léauté was an Honorary Member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers ASME from 1891.

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_{Anonymous (1916). Henry Léauté. Le Génie Civil 69(21): 342.}

_{Anonymous (1930). Henry Léauté. Mechanical Engineering 52(4): 296. P}

_{Boucheny, G. (1920). Léauté, Henry. Larousse mensuel illustré 4: 69-70. Larousse: Paris. P}

_{Jordan, C. (1916). Notice nécrologique sur M. Léauté. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Paris 163(19): 501-502.}

_{Léauté, H. (1880). Mémoire sur les oscillations à longues périodes dans les machines action- nées par des moteurs hydrauliques. Journal de l'Ecole Polytechnique 55: 1-126, also as Mémoire sur les oscillations à longues périodes dans les machines actionnées par des moteurs hydrauliques et sur les moyens de les prévenir. Gauthier-Villars: Paris.}

_{Léauté, H. (1892). Encyclopédie scientifique des aide-mémoires. Paris. Léauté, H., Périssé, M. (1895). Ecluses du canal de Panama. Maulde: Paris.}