LEVIANT

FRANCE (see also List of Individuals)

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18.8.1914 Gomel/RU - 13.11.2006 Paris/F

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Israel Leviant emigrated in 1918 from Russia to Germany first and in 1922 to France. He was educated at Ecole Polytechnique first, then at Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées and at Université de Paris. Leviant started his professional career in 1938 as an engineer of the Corps, was promoted to vice-director for external relations in 1945 and presided from 1946 over the French Council for relations with Washington. He was also the vice-president and director of Vacuum Concrete and collaborated with Bechtel Engineering. From 1970, Leviant was vice-director of BechtelFrance. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom from the USA, and the Du-Plat-Taylor Medal from the UK. He was in addition an Officer of Légion d'Honneur.

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Leviant has written during the 1950s a number of papers relating to the propagation of flood waves in rivers. He thereby investigated the regimes of flood flows in the typical rivers of Europe, illustrated his approach with some large floods and expanded his ideas to the large rivers of the world. He also presented an approach to defend floods, mainly by setting up retention basins or dams for flood storage. He stated that nothing can be done against floods directly, but that much can be initiated indirectly to reduce the damages produced. In the 1940s, Leviant contributed two papers to purely hydraulic questions. In 1950, he was among the first to investigate the radial hydraulic jump, a phenomenon that may be experienced in the hand basin. Finally, Leviant published in 1943 a book on hydro-electricity in which his experiences in that field are summarized. The book contains the following chapters: (1) Development of French hydro-electricity, (2) Consumption and production, (3) Problems of adaptation, (4) Interconnection, (5) Accumulation reservoirs, (6) Thermal energy, (7) Dams, (8) Catchment areas, (9) Powerhouses, and (10) Overall considerations.

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_{Anonymous (1967). Leviant, Israel. Who's who in Europe 2: 1638. E.A. de Maeyer, ed. Feniks: Bruxelles.}

_{Leviant, I. (1943). Aménagements hydro-électriques. Dunod: Paris.}

_{Leviant, I. (1947). Etude sur les écoulements variés en canal découvert. Revue Générale de l'Hydraulique 13(38): 59-68; 13(40): 198-201.}

_{Leviant, I. (1948). Les grandes crues. Science et Vie 73(367): 203-211.}

_{Leviant, I. (1950). Etude sur certains écoulements radiaux à surface libre. Revue Générale de l'Hydraulique 16(3/4): 74-82.}

_{Leviant, Y. (2006). Israel Leviant. Personal communicarion. P}