POINCARÉ N

FRANCE (see also List of Individuals)

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13.2.1825 Nancy/F - 19.6.1911 Revigny-Ornain/F

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Nicolas-Antoni Poincaré graduated from Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées in 1847 after having completed Ecole Polytechnique. From 1856 he was stationed at the hydraulics service of Eastern France comprising the Departments of Meuse and Vosges. Poincaré was appointed chief engineer in 1874 and from then headed the Canal de l'Est. In 1880 he moved to the capital and was from 1886 there a General Inspector of the Roads and Bridges Corps thereby directing the hydraulics service of the Agricultural Ministry.

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During his stay in the Meuse Department, Poincaré set up the meteorological service of the Meuse River, at about the same time as Charles Ritter (1825-1902) made a similar step for the Côte d'Or Department in Dijon. This included also the development of the service for the announcement of floods. The Meuse River is 900 km long with its sources close to Dijon and its course almost to the North, thereby passing close to Namur into Belgium and continuing through Liège to Nijmegen in the Netherlands to finally run into the Rhine River. This river is known for terrible floods that propagate down through narrow valleys; the river is also known for its beauty because of strong meanders, particularly close to the French-Belgium border. The Canal de l'Est corresponds to the canalized part of the Meuse River and essentially links Central France with Western Germany. It was constructed from 1874 to 1887 and is 420 km long. Poincaré's work included derivations of the Meuse River, dam works, locks, canal bridges, siphons and canal water supply works. Alfred Picard (1844-1913) published a large work on the canal in which these details are described. Poincaré was the father of Raymond Poincaré, who was the French president from 1913 to 1920, whereas Henri Poincaré (1854-1912), the great mathematician and statesman, was one of his nephews.

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_{Beauplan, R. de. (1934). Une vie au service de la France. L'Illustration 92(4782): 284-288. P Lambert, M. (1911). Nicolas-Antoni Poincaré. Annales des Ponts et Chaussées 81(6): I-IV. Mascart, J. (1911). Antonin-Nicolas-Hélène Poincaré. Revue Générale des Sciences 22(17): 665. Pinon, P. (1986). Un canal … des canaux. Picard: Paris.}

_{Poincaré, N.A. (1864). Notice sur le service de correspondence pour l'annonce des crues de la Meuse. Annales des Ponts et Chaussées 34(2): 334-358.}

_{Poincaré, N.A. (1868). Orages de 1866 à 1868 dans le Département de la Meuse. Paris.}

_{Poincaré, N.A. (1873). Distribution et marche des pluies dans le Département de la Meuse, le bassin supérieur de la Rivière de Meuse et une zone avoisinante du bassin de la Seine. Annales des Ponts et Chaussées 43(2): 227-267.}