Paul Adrien Bourdaloue (4 January 1798,
Bourges
Bourges () is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre. It is the capital of the department of Cher, and also was the capital city of the former province of Berry.
History
The name of the commune derives either from the Bituriges, t ...
- 21 June 1868,
Bourges
Bourges () is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre. It is the capital of the department of Cher, and also was the capital city of the former province of Berry.
History
The name of the commune derives either from the Bituriges, t ...
) was a French civil engineer and topographer, who proposed the first orthometric
levelling
Levelling or leveling (American English; American and British English spelling differences#Doubled in British English, see spelling differences) is a branch of surveying, the object of which is to establish or verify or measure the height of sp ...
of France.
Life
Head of the
Corps des Ponts et Chaussées
The ''Corps des ponts, des eaux et des forêts'' (in English "Corps of Bridges, Waters and Forests") is a technical Grand Corps of the French State (grand corps de l'Etat). Its members are senior officials, mainly employed by the French Ministry of ...
, then engineer-resident of the Chemins de fer du Gard, from 1847 he carried out the
levelling
Levelling or leveling (American English; American and British English spelling differences#Doubled in British English, see spelling differences) is a branch of surveying, the object of which is to establish or verify or measure the height of sp ...
of the area of the future
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
in Egypt at the request of the engineer
Linant de Bellefonds. During this process he and others noted that the difference in levels between the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
and
Red Sea
The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...
was negligible, contrary to the conclusions of
Bonaparte's engineers on the
Egyptian Expedition such as
Jacques-Marie Le Père
Jacques-Marie Le Père (Paris, 25 April 1763 – Granville, 15 June 1841) was a French civil engineer.
Life
He accompanied the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria, was director of 'Ponts et Chaussées' (bridges and roads) in Egypt. After accomp ...
.
In 1857, he was commissioned to move onto the
general levelling of mainland France. From 1857 to 1863, he laid out a network of 15,000
iron seals across France, providing the country's first level-lines.
He was
maire-adjoint of the town of
Bourges
Bourges () is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre. It is the capital of the department of Cher, and also was the capital city of the former province of Berry.
History
The name of the commune derives either from the Bituriges, t ...
. In 1865, he entrusted to the architect
Albert Tissandier
Albert Tissandier (1839 – 5 September 1906) was a French architect, aviator, illustrator, editing, editor and archaeologist. He was the brother of adventurer Gaston Tissandier with whom he collaborated in writing the magazine ''La Nature'' ...
the design of a
château d'eau at
Séraucourt, still visible. He is buried in the cimetière des Capucins at Bourges.
Works
*''Nivellement général de la France'' (1864, several volumes in-8°), ed. Pigelet, Bourges
1798 births
1868 deaths
French civil engineers
People from Bourges
French topographers
{{France-engineer-stub