André Coyne (10 February 1891 – 21 July 1960) was a French

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

who founded the consulting firm

Coyne et Bellier Coyne et Bellier is a global consulting and engineering firm based in Gennevilliers, France. They specialize in infrastructure projects such as dams, nuclear and hydroelectric power plants, roads, tunnels and other below-surface facilities. The co ...

and was President of the

International Commission on Large Dams The International Commission on Large Dams, or ICOLD ( or ''CIGB''), is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the sharing of professional information and knowledge of the design, construction, maintenance, and impact of large ...

from 1945 to 1953. He designed 70 dams in 14 countries during his lifetime.

Biography

Coyne was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on 11 February 1891. He received his education at

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 ...

and its School of Civil Engineering afterwards. He worked on the Plougastel Bridge and in 1928 was appointed as the chief engineer of dams in the Upper

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; ) is a large rural departments of France, department in south west France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and ...

River. While in that position, he designed the Marèges Dam which incorporated several innovative advancements in dam design (a.o., a

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure tha ...

of the ski jumping ramp type). In 1935 he became the head of France's Large Dam Engineering Department and between 1945 and 1953 he served as President of the

. In 1947 he departed civil service and started his own consulting firm,

. Other dams he later designed in France include the Grandval and Roselend Dams. Abroad he designed the

Kariba Dam Kariba may refer to: * Kariba, Zimbabwe * Lake Kariba * Kariba Dam * Kariba Gorge * Kariba (District) * Kariba weed, plant * For the ship, see MV Tricolor {{dab ...

on the

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

border, the Daniel-Johnson Dam in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

and the Santa Luzia Dam in Portugal. Coyne also designed the

Malpasset Dam The Malpasset Dam was an arch dam (convex surface facing upstream) on the Reyran, Reyran River, north of Fréjus on the French Riviera. It collapsed on 2 December 1959, killing 423 people in the resulting flood. The breach was caused by a tectoni ...

in Southern France. Nearly immediately after construction was completed on the dam, cracks were noticed at the base. A few years later, on 2 December 1959, the dam abruptly broke and collapsed, releasing a wall of water that reached the nearby town of

Fréjus Fréjus (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Var (department), Var Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It neighbours Saint-Raphaël, Var, Saint-Raphaël ...

, killing 423 people. It was said that Coyne was deeply affected by the dam's failure, and immediately blamed himself, claiming he was solely responsible. Indeed, Coyne did not implement the advice of Georges Corroy, a geologist, to build the dam 650 ft upstream, nor did he adapt the spillway gate to the flood flow. He died half a year later. A study later found that the design of the dam was probably not the reason for its failure. Other factors were blamed instead, including the location of the dam, the stability of the rock material, the fact that a

geological fault Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

was found on the site, and heavy rain that had raised the water level by 15 feet that year. Also, intense mining for a new highway nearby downstream is suspected to have weakened the dam site. Coyne died in

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the ...

on 21 July 1960.

References

External links

Dam Failures Case Study: Malpasset Dam (France, 1959)

Official website
Biography of André Coyne at Structurae
French civil engineers École Polytechnique alumni École des Ponts ParisTech alumni Corps des ponts 1891 births 1960 deaths {{France-engineer-stub