Pierre Benjamin Daniel Massé (; 13 January 1898 – 15 December 1987) was a French economist, engineer, applied mathematician, and high official in the French government.
[Alain Beltran & Martine Bungener, «Itinéraire d'un ingénieur», ''Vingtième siècle. Revue d'histoire'', no. 15, juillet-septembre 1987, pp. 59-68 ]
Education and career
After graduation from l'
École polytechnique
(, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris.
The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...
, Massé became an engineer at l'
École nationale des ponts et chaussées
École nationale des ponts et chaussées (; ; abbr. ENPC), also nicknamed Ponts (), formerly known as École des Ponts ParisTech (), is a grande école in the field of science, engineering and technology, of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris, a ...
and a Doctor of Science. From 1928 he worked in the electrical industry and became at
Électricité de France
Électricité de France SA (; ), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational corporation, multinational electric utility company owned by the government of France. Headquartered in Paris, with €139.7 billion in sales in 2023, EDF ope ...
in 1946 the director of electrical equipment and operations and in 1948 the deputy general manager. In 1957 he became president of l'Électricité de
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
. In 1959
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...
named him Commissaire général du Plan (General Commissioner of Planning) and he held this position until 1966. Massé was chairman of the board of directors of Électricité de France from 1965 to 1969 and an associate professor of
la Faculté de Droit de Paris from 1965 to 1967. He was the first president of the
Fondation de France
The Fondation de France ("Foundation of France") is an independent private organisation, recognised as being in the public interest, and created at the instigation of Charles de Gaulle and André Malraux in an effort to stimulate and foster the g ...
from 1969 to 1973. He was elected a member of l'
Académie des sciences morales et politiques
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
in 1977.
[
Pierre Massé did research in economics on the theories of economic depreciation, dynamic programming, and total factor productivity and in mathematics on ]Pontryagin's minimum principle
Pontryagin's maximum principle is used in optimal control theory to find the best possible control for taking a dynamical system from one state to another, especially in the presence of constraints for the state or input controls. It states that i ...
.[ He was an ]invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians
An invitation system is a method of encouraging people to join an organization, such as a Club (organization), club or a website. In regular society, it refers to any system whereby new members are chosen; they cannot simply apply. In relation to w ...
in 1928 at Bologna.
Selected publications
*
*
*
**
* ''Le Plan, ou l'Anti-hasard'' (1965; 1991)
* ''Les Dividendes du progrès'' (1969)
* ''La Crise du développement'' (1973)
*
* ''Aléas et progrès: entre Candide et Cassandre'' (1984)
References
External links
Pierre Massé (1898–1987) – Author – Resources from the BnF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masse, Pierre
1898 births
1987 deaths
École Polytechnique alumni
Corps des ponts
Engineers from Paris
Civil servants from Paris
20th-century French economists
French civil engineers
20th-century French mathematicians
Électricité de France people
Fellows of the Econometric Society