Marcel Deprez (12 December 1843 – 13 October 1918) was a French

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

. He was born in

Aillant-sur-Milleron Aillant-sur-Milleron is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France. Population See also * Communes of the Loiret department The following is the list of the 325 communes of the Loiret department of France. The communes coo ...

. He died in

Vincennes Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attached ...

Biography

Deprez was born in

in rural France and attended the School of Mines in Paris. He was not able to complete the course; however, he must have made a good impression, as he was employed as a secretary to the Director of the school, Charles Combes.The Engine Indicator
, John Walters, Chapter 8, p.8-20 At

Creil Creil is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. The Creil station is an important railway junction. History Archaeological remains in the area include a Neolithic site as well as a late Iron Age necropolis, perhaps belonging to ...

, from 1876 to 1886, Deprez conducted the first experiments to transmit

electrical power Electric power is the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt, one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with other SI units: thousands, millions and billions of ...

over long distances. At the

International Exposition of Electricity, Paris The first International Exposition of Electricity in Paris ran from August 15, 1881 through to November 15, 1881 at the Palais de l'Industrie on the Champs-Élysées. It served to display the advances in electrical technology since the small elect ...

, in 1881, Deprez undertook the task of presenting an

electricity distribution Electric power distribution is the final stage in the delivery of electric power; it carries electricity from the transmission system to individual consumers. Distribution substations connect to the transmission system and lower the transmissio ...

system based on the long-distance transmission of

direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or even ...

. The first successful attempt took place in 1882 from

Miesbach Miesbach () is a town in Bavaria, Germany, and is the capital of the Miesbach district. The district is at an altitude of 697 metres above sea level. It covers an area of approximately 863.50 km² of alpine headlands and in 2017 had a popul ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

at the occasion of the Exposition of Electricity in the Glaspalast organised by

Oskar von Miller Oskar von Miller (7 May 1855 – 9 April 1934) was a German engineer and founder of the Deutsches Museum, a large museum of technology and science in Munich. Biography Born in Munich into an Upper Bavarian family from Aichach, he was the son of ...

. There he transmitted 1.5 kW at 2 kV over a distance of 35 miles. Deprez conducted experiments in La Chapelle, Grenoble, Vizille, Paris, and Creil. He eventually attained

transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission *** ...

over thirty-five miles for industrial purposes. In 1889, Rene Thury continued his approach of arranging generators in series, eventually developing commercial systems delivering 20 megawatts at 125 kV over 230 kilometers. Galvanometer-MHS 68-P4070293-gradient

References

External links

* * * * 1843 births 1918 deaths French electrical engineers Members of the French Academy of Sciences {{France-engineer-stub