BOREL

SWITZERLAND (see also List of Individuals)

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21.12.1871 Neuchâtel/CH - 10.7.1947 Genève/CH

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Charles Borel graduated as a civil engineer from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich in 1891. After some years as a practicing engineer, he became city engineer of Neuchâtel and from 1914 was a private consultant there. In 1920, he moved to Geneva as a consultant. During his career, Borel developed the floating caisson technique for deep-water foundations. During his stay in Neuchâtel, Borel also was a Lecturer in applied mechanics at Neuchâtel University. In addition, he was active in the public works sector and was a city councilor of both Neuchâtel and Geneva.

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Borel was a founding member of the Rhone-Rhine Navigation Association, whose main purpose was to connect the two rivers from the Lake Geneva to Lake Neuchâtel. His 1927 booklet took up this project which was previously initiated in the 16th century with the Canal d'Entreroche, a navigation canal between the Orbe River plain and Eclépens close to Lausanne. The final purpose of this ambitious project was to interconnect the Mediterranean with the North Sea by Lake Neuchâtel and the Aare River. Works were initiated over 13 km but never completed because a large number of locks would have been necessary for the elevation difference of some 60 m. Similar conditions in France demonstrated that such a canal would be outdated in the 20th century, once railways connected the two regions, in addition to the then existing Swiss harbor in Basel on Rhine River, by which an indirect access to the sea was available. Further, the French had started from 1900 to use River Rhone extensively for hydropower purposes, a complication with the erection of an inland waterway. The Rhone-Rhine Canal was definitely abandoned after World War II yet Borel had considerably contributed to the inland navigation in Switzerland. He was for years the editor of the journal Des Canaux - des Bataux in which aspects of river navigation were mainly discussed.

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_{Borel, C. (1921). Etude sur les variations de densité de l'air atmosphérique. Sadag: Paris. Borel, C. (1927). Der schweizerische Binnenkanal zwischen der Rhone und dem Rhein.}

_{Schweizerischer Rhone-Rhein-Schiffahrtsverband: Lausanne; also translated in French. Borel, C. (1941). La Suisse et la navigation fluviale. Steffen: Genève.}

_{Borel, C. (1942). Nos barrages en Suisse romande. Kundig: Genève.}

_{Borel, C. (1943). La navigation intérieure et fluviale européenne. Delachaux: Neuchâtel. Studer, A. (1947). Charles Borel, ingénieur. Rhône-Rhin 34(3): 17-18. P}