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 The French invasion of Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was a military expedition led by Napoleon Bonaparte during the French Revolutionary Wars. The campaign aimed to undermine British trade routes, expand French influence, and establish a ...

, was director of 'Ponts et Chaussées' (bridges and roads) in Egypt. After accompanying the expedition to the remains of the

Canal of the Pharaohs The Canal of the Pharaohs, also called the Ancient Suez Canal or Necho's Canal, is the forerunner of the Suez Canal, constructed in ancient times and kept in use, with intermissions, until being closed in 767 AD for strategic reasons during a re ...

, built by

Necho II Necho II (sometimes Nekau, Neku, Nechoh, or Nikuu; Greek: Νεκώς Β'; ) of Egypt was a king of the 26th Dynasty (610–595 BC), which ruled from Sais. Necho undertook a number of construction projects across his kingdom. In his reign, accor ...

between the

River Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the longest river i ...

and the

Gulf of Suez The Gulf of Suez (; formerly , ', "Sea of Calm") is a gulf at the northern end of the Red Sea, to the west of the Sinai Peninsula. Situated to the east of the Sinai Peninsula is the smaller Gulf of Aqaba. The gulf was formed within a relative ...

and improved by

Ptolemy II Ptolemy II Philadelphus (, ''Ptolemaîos Philádelphos'', "Ptolemy, sibling-lover"; 309 – 28 January 246 BC) was the pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt from 284 to 246 BC. He was the son of Ptolemy I, the Macedonian Greek general of Alexander the G ...

, he was commissioned by Bonaparte to edit an account of the Canal. He was made a member of the

Institut d'Égypte The Institut d'Égypte or Egyptian Scientific Institute is a learned society in Cairo specializing in Egyptology. It was established in 1798 by Napoleon I of France, Napoleon Bonaparte to carry out research during his French Invasion of Egypt (17 ...

on 22 August 1798, in the mathematics section. With his brother Gratien and other engineers working alongside them, he carried out three building programmes (from 19 January to 5 February 1799, in September 1799, and finally in November to December 1799) to measure the levels of the isthmus, in difficult conditions due to Bedouin attacks and the lack of water. In the rain, he concluded that there was a 9 m difference between the levels of 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 east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

and

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

, an error which persisted until the measurements carried out by Paul-Adrien Bourdaloue in 1847. After his return to France, he spent a long time as divisional inspector of 'ponts et chaussées' in Paris, then as inspector of Paris from 1822 to 1830.

Works

* ''Mémoire sur la communication de la mer des Indes à la Méditerranée par la mer Rouge et l’isthme de Soueys'', in ''

Description de l'Égypte The ''Description de l'Égypte'' (, ''"Description of Egypt"'') was a series of publications, appearing first in 1809 and continuing until the final volume appeared in 1829, which aimed to comprehensively catalog all known aspects of ancient an ...

'', l'État moderne, vol XI, Paris, Imprimerie Panckouke, 1822. * ''Mémoire sur la vallée du Nil et le nilomètre de l'île de Roudah'', in ''Description de l'Égypte, l'État moderne II (2e Partie)'' (p. 527 - 570), Imprimerie Royale, Paris, 1822Vol XII
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Life

Works

Notes

Further reading