CUÉNOD E

SWITZERLAND (see also List of Individuals)

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19.7.1834 Vevey/CH - 23.2.1917 Lausanne/CH

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Emile Cuénod graduated as a mechanical engineer in 1855 from Ecole Centrale, Paris. Upon returning to Switzerland, he was particularly interested in railway design works. Once having joined the Swiss government as a federal engineer, he contributed to the Gotthard railways scheme connecting Central Switzerland with Tessin Canton. He was also involved in complicated road executions along Lake of Lucerne, and the Furka and Oberalp Passes in the Saint Gotthard region. In the 1890s, Cuénod designed the important lake bridges of Lucerne and Geneva. In the same period of his career, he also designed the railways connecting Lausanne city with the Lake of Geneva. He was in the Swiss Army a lieutenant-colonel and presided, among others, also over the Blue Cross.

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As a general engineer of the 19th century, virtually all interesting works in the public works were normally accepted. As others, Cuénod contributed indirectly to a number of hydraulic projects, in addition to those involving railways and roads. These had to be designed in complicated landscapes where water courses often had to be circumvented. From 1877, he mainly worked in river rehabilitation projects such as for the Veveyse River running into Lake Geneva. This river, among others, attracted his main hydraulic interest between 1877 and 1903. The works were designed to protect steep river reaches against slides, to retain sediment and wood that would otherwise clog river narrows and pile up water behind it that eventually threaten villages by floods and debris flows. Cuénod published two remarkable works, of which the 1869 booklet relates to the rivers and torrents of Western and Central Switzerland, and the 1884 booklet proposes methods to integrate Swiss rivers into the environment. From retirement in 1904 until his death, Cuénod mainly took interest in philanthropic issues and was remembered as a true representative of his canton.

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_{Anonymous (1917). Emile Cuénod. Schweizerische Bauzeitung 69(21): 242.}

_{Anonymous (1917). Emile Cuénod. Bulletin Technique de la Suisse Romande 43(10): 103-104. Cuénod, A. (1968). Emile Cuénod. Chronique de la famille Cuénod: 53-54. Genève. P Cuénod, E. (1869). Fleuves et torrents des Alpes. Bibliothèque Universelle: Genève.}

_{Cuénod, E. (1883). Foi et science. Lausanne.}

_{Cuénod, E. (1884). De l'aménagement des eaux en Suisse. Staempfli: Bern. Daulte, H. (1917). Emile Cuénod. La Croix-Bleue 12(3): 1-2.}