WATIER

FRANCE (see also List of Individuals)

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11.4.1882 Bourbonnes-les-Bains/F - 20.8.1937 Paris/F

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Pierre-Henry Watier initiated his career in Nantes after having graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées in 1909. He was in charge of the maritime Loire River and proposed novel techniques to fix the estuarine river shores. Earlier, the port of Nantes had become useless because of insufficient depth. Watier deepened it, and developed it into the prime French maritime installation. His technique was applied for the Seine and Gironde Rivers on the Atlantic coast. Watier was appointed chief engineer in 1920 for the Seine navigation section, but in 1922 called to Paris to direct the French waterways and the maritime ports in the Ministry of Public Works. In 1927, he was appointed Inspecteur Général and two years later professor of maritime works at Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées. In 1930, Watier proposed the erection of the Laboratoire d'Hydraulique in Chatou, which was taken over after World War II by Electricité de France EDF. He was a Member of the Consultative Commission of Suez Canal Company from 1933 and a vice-president of the Public Works Committee for the Colonies. Watier was a Commander of Légion d'Honneur, among other distinctions.

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Watier has given to all larger ports of France his technical imprint. At the time before World War II, ports as Le Havre or Cherbourg were able to receive the worldwide largest boats and vessels. Dunkerque port played an important role for passengers moving to England, and it was also enlarged during Watier's era. He would often go to the constructional sites, contacting thereby not only his direct collaborators but also looking at the fronts and chatting with the workers. His reputation was high, therefore. His premature death was largely due to heavy overwork that ruined Watier's health.

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_{Anonymous (1937). Notice nécrologique: Pierre-Henry Watier. PCM Bulletin de l'Association des Anciens Elèves de l'Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées 34(8): 266-268. P}

_{Nizéry, A. (1948). Le Laboratoire National d'Hydraulique. Annales des Ponts et Chaussées}

_{118: 767-849.}

_{Rouville, M. de (1938). Pierre-Henry Watier. Annales des Ponts et Chaussées 108(1): 5-30. P}

_{Walckenaer, M. (1937). Pierre-Henry Watier. Bulletin de la Société d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie 136: 485-486.}

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

_{Wortman, H. (1937). Ter herdenking Henry Watier. De Ingenieur 52(40): A365.}