- Eugène Belgrand
Eugène Belgrand (1810–1878) was a French engineer who made significant contributions to the modernization of the
Paris ian sewer system during the 19th century rebuilding of Paris. Much of Belgrand's work remains in use today.cite journal |title=The Sights Beneath the Sidewalks |journal=New York Times |author=Riding, Alan |date=1992-07-12 |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=travel&res=9E0CE7DD1738F931A25754C0A964958260 |accessdate=2008-01-09]Civil engineering
Prior to 1850, the water system in Paris was inadequate for its growing population. Waste water was discharged into the
Seine , a primary source of the critically limited supply of drinking water. [cite web |title=Hausmann |work=France Monthly |date=Dec 2002 |url=http://www.francemonthly.com/n/1202/index.php#article5 |accessdate=2008-01-08]Baron Haussmann , tasked by Napoléon III to modernize the city, appointed Belgrand as Director of Water and Sewers of Paris in March 1855. [cite book |title=The European Cities and Technology Reader: Industrial to Post-industrial City |author=Goodman, David C. |date=1999 |publisher=Routledge |id=ISBN 0415200792] Hausmann had been impressed by theÉcole Polytechnique graduate's application of geology to water engineering during the design of a fountain inAvallon .Belgrand embarked on an ambitious project. The tunnels he designed were intended to be clean, easily accessible, and substantially larger than the previous Parisian underground. [cite book |title=Building New York's Sewers: Developing Mechanisms of Urban Management |author=Goldman, Joanne Abel |date=1997 |publisher=Purdue University Press |id=ISBN 1557530955] Under his guidance, Paris's sewer system expanded fourfold between 1852 and 1869. [cite book |title=A History of Private Life |author=Perrot, Michelle |date=1990 |publisher=Harvard University Press |id=ISBN 0674400038] He also addressed the city's fresh water needs, constructing a system of
aqueducts that nearly doubled the amount of water available per person per day and quadrupled the number of homes with running water. [cite book |title=Walks Through Lost Paris: A Journey Into the Hear of Historic Paris |author=Pitt, Leonard |date=2006 |publisher=Shoemaker & Hoard Publishers |id=ISBN 1593761031]Public reaction to the improvements was overwhelmingly favorable, supported by tours of the newly-constructed sewer system and a series of
photographs taken by Nadar, [cite web |title=Sewerage from 1789-1900 |work=Paris: Urban Sanitation Before the 20th Century |author=Krupa, Frederique |url=http://www.translucency.com/frede/parisproject/sewer1789_1900.html |accessdate=2008-01-08] pioneering the use of artificiallighting for photography. [cite book |title=Artists, Writers, and Musicians: An Encyclopedia of People Who Changed the World |author=Bossy, Michel-André, Thomas Brothers, et al. |date=2001 |publisher=Oryx Press |id=ISBN 1573561541] Belgrand shared his insights with others, writing "monumental publications" [cite book |title=Haussmann: Paris Transformed |author=Saalman, Howard |date=1971 |publisher=George Braziller |id=ISBN 0807605837] detailing his work and the science behind it. [cite journal |title=Hydrology |author=Meinzer, Oscar E., ed. |publisher=Dover Publications |date=1949]Belgrand's projects remain "one of the most extensive urban sewer systems in the world" and served as a "transitional phase" leading to modern wastewater processing. [cite journal |title=The Paris sewers and the rationalization of urban space |journal=Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers |volume=24 |issue=1 |date=1999 |pages=23–44 |doi=10.1111/j.0020-2754.1999.00023.x |author=Gandy, Matthew]
Commemoration
To commemorate his work in Parisian civil engineering, Belgrand's name is one of 72 names engraved on the
Eiffel Tower , opposite theÉcole Militaire . [cite web |title=The 72 scientists |url=http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/documentation/dossiers/page/savants.html |accessdate=2008-01-09] The main gallery of theParis Sewer Museum [cite journal |title=The sewer: Guardian against disease |journal=The Bulletin Online |author=Kahn, Laura H. |date=2007-10-18 |url=http://www.thebulletin.org/columns/laura-kahn/20071018.html |accessdate=2008-01-09] is also named in his honor, as is a street in Paris. [cite book |title=Paris: Capital of the World |author=Higonnet, Patrice |date=2002 |publisher=Harvard University Press |id=ISBN 0674008871]References
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