PARMENTIER

FRANCE (see also List of Individuals)

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21.1.1886 Montpellier/F - 6.9.1959 Paris/F

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Jean Parmentier graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées to start his engineering career in 1913. He was first stationed in the maritime service of St. Nazaire on the Atlantic Coast and involved in the execution of the canal from Brest to Nantes. In 1919 he moved to the railroad service in the French North-east to design hydropower installations for power supply in the upper River Seine region. In 1923 he stayed in the French occupied zone of Germany following the economical regulations of World War I. He was in charge of the navigation service to connect the waterways of France and Belgium from 1924. He took over the Seine navigation service in 1928 to initiate the design of the Chatou dam downstream of Paris. One year later, Parmentier moved to the Middle East to work on the pipeline connecting the oil fields of Kirkuk to the Mediterranean, and thus passing by then French territory in today's Syria. Parmentier was appointed Inspecteur Général of his Corps in 1930 and from 1940 was responsible for the capital district. Parmentier was also a Council Member of the National Office of Navigation and was appointed in 1948 vice-president of the Bridges and Roads Council, and thus directly placed below the French Minister of Public Works. Shortly later in 1952 he was awarded the title Commander of Légion d'Honneur. Parmentier retired in 1956.

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Parmentier may be considered a great engineer who has significantly served his country in advancing problems in public works. He was less the researcher but the organizer of French engineering projects, particularly those relating to inland navigation and to hydropower engineering. He conducted basic studies in collaboration with Toulouse University relating to the flow characteristics over small drops in rivers.

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_{Anonymous (1951). Jean Parmentier. Travaux 35(9): 505. P}

_{Anonymous (1959). M. Parmentier. La Houille Blanche 14(B): 876.}

_{Masteau, C. (2003). Jean-Gaston-Robert Parmentier. Archives de l'Ecole des Ponts: Paris.}

_{Parmentier, J., Camichel, C., Escande, L. (1935). Les indéterminations et les solutions dans leurs rapports avec l'hydraulique fluviale. La Technique Moderne 27(17): 579-584.}

_{Parmentier, J. (1944). Les différents types de barrages mobiles. Arrault: Tours.}

_{Parmentier, J., Aubert, J., Henry, M., Dumas, R. (1949). Nouvelles conceptions en matière de construction d'écluses. 17 International Navigation Congress Lisbon C1: 63-77.}

_{Watier, H., Parmentier, J. (1931). La navigation intérieure en 1831 et en 1931. Annales des Ponts et Chaussées 101(2): 167-182.}