Raoul Dautry (16 September 1880 – 21 August 1951) was a French engineer, business leader and politician. He was born on 16 September 1880 at

Montluçon Montluçon (; oc, Montleçon ) is a commune in central France on the river Cher. It is the largest commune in the Allier department, although the department's prefecture is located in the smaller town of Moulins. Its inhabitants are known as ...

in the department of

Allier Allier ( , , ; oc, Alèir) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region that borders Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire to the east, Puy-de-Dôme to the south, and Creuse to the south-west. Named afte ...

; he died on 21 August 1951 at

Lourmarin Lourmarin (; oc, Lormarin) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Lourmarinois''. Geography Lourmarin is located in the French region of Provence, ...

in the department of

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.École Polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

in 1900, he began a career with the railway company,

Chemin de Fer du Nord The Chemins de fer du Nord''French locomotive built in 1846''

. In 1914, during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he set up a railway routing system which enabled reinforcements to be transferred to the front for the Battle of the Marne. It was under his direction that a new track was laid in a hundred days from

Beauvais Beauvais ( , ; pcd, Bieuvais) is a city and commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise département, in the Hauts-de-France region, north of Paris. The commune of Beauvais had a population of 56,020 , making it the most populous ...

to the front. He held a number of important posts in the railways. He was director general of the

Chemins de fer de l'État The Chemins de fer de l'État ("State Railways"), often referred to in France as the Réseau de l'État ("State Network"), was an early state-owned French railway company. History The company was established by state order of the Third Republ ...

(State Railways) from 1928 to 1937 and when the French National Railways (

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

) were set up in 1938, he became a member of its governing body. Dautry was Armaments Minister from 20 September 1939 to 16 June 1940 in the governments of Daladier and

Reynaud Paul Reynaud (; 15 October 1878 – 21 September 1966) was a French politician and lawyer prominent in the interwar period, noted for his stances on economic liberalism and militant opposition to Germany. Reynaud opposed the Munich Agreement o ...

. He obtained the permission of Daladier to send a mission to Norway to look for the stocks of heavy water which the Germans were anxious to obtain. During the German occupation of France, he withdrew from political life and retired to his home in

in the department of

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

, a post which he held from 16 November 1944 to 20 January 1946. Thereafter he became general director of the

Commissariat à l'énergie atomique The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission or CEA ( French: Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives), is a French public government-funded research organisation in the areas of energy, defense and securit ...

(French Atomic Energy Commission). It was in this capacity that he selected

Saclay Saclay () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It had a population of 3,067 in 2006. It is best known for the large scientific facility CEA Saclay, mostly dealing with nuclear and pa ...

as the site for an atomic plant. In 1946, he was elected to the French Academy of Political and Moral Sciences. He was elected Mayor of

and named a ''Grand Officier of the Legion d’Honneur''.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:DAUTRY, Raoul 1880 births 1951 deaths People from Montluçon École Polytechnique alumni French people in rail transport Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques 20th-century French politicians Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur

See also

External links