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Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar (May 5, 1785 – March 12, 1870) was a French
inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an i ...
and entrepreneur best known for designing, patenting and manufacturing the first commercially successful mechanical calculator, the
Arithmometer The arithmometer (french: arithmomètre) was the first digital mechanical calculator strong enough and reliable enough to be used daily in an office environment. This calculator could add and subtract two numbers directly and could perform long ...
, and for founding the insurance companies ''Le Soleil'' and ''L'aigle'' which, under his leadership, became the number one insurance group in France at the beginning of the Second Empire.


Biography

Born Charles Xavier Thomas in
Colmar Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it i ...
, France, his father was a doctor and member of the town council. After a short employment in the French administration, Thomas joined the French army in 1809 eventually reaching the level of General Manager of the supply store of all of the armies located in Spain in 1813. Shortly thereafter he was promoted to Inspector of Supply for the entire French army. It was during that time that he conceived the idea of the Arithmometer to help him with the great deal of calculations that he had to perform. Back into civilian life, in 1819, he co-founded the fire insurance company "Phoenix" which he left quickly because of the lack of support for his new ideas from his partners and shareholders. Ten years later, in 1829, he started the fire insurance company "Le Soleil" that he grew by merger and acquisitions until his death. In 1843 he started another insurance company called "L'Aigle incendie". With the Sun (soleil) symbol of previous kings of France and the Eagle (aigle) reminiscent of Napoleon, he had all bases covered to attract a wide range of customers in a very divided 19th century France. By his death the "Aigle - Soleil" group was the biggest insurance business in France and he owned 81% of it. Eighty years later, in 1946, it was nationalized and finally merged with "La National" in 1968 to become the GAN company which is still in business today.


Arithmometer

The first model of the Arithmometer was introduced in 1820, and as a result Thomas was made
Chevalier of the Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...
in 1821. Despite this, Thomas spent all of his time and energy on his insurance business, therefore there is a hiatus of more than thirty years in before the Artitometer's commercialization in 1852. Because of the Arithmometer, he was raised to the level of Officier of the Légion d'honneur in 1857. By the time of his death in 1870, his manufacturing facility had built around 1,000 Arithmometers, making it the first mass-produced mechanical calculator in the world, and at the time, the only mechanical calculator reliable and dependable enough to be used in places like government agencies, banks, insurance companies and observatories.. The manufacturing of the Arithmometer went on for another 40 years until around 1914.


Personal life

He married Francesca (Frasquita) Garcia de Ampudia Alvarez in Seville in 1812. She came from an old
Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...
n noble family. Together, they had ten children, including: Joseph Thomas d'Alvarez; Charlotte (Countess de Rancy); Louis Thomas, who married Livia Carafa, Duchess of
Bojano Bojano or Boiano is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Campobasso, Molise, south-central Italy. History Originally named Bovianum, it was settled by the 7th century BC. As the capital of the Pentri, a tribe of the Samnites, it played a m ...
and took the name of Thomas de Bojano; Frasquita (Mrs Soultzner d'Enschwyl); and Henriette (Countess de Dalmas).


See also

*
History of computing hardware The history of computing hardware covers the developments from early simple devices to aid calculation to modern day computers. Before the 20th century, most calculations were done by humans. The first aids to computation were purely mechanic ...


References


External links

*
His biography on Arithmometre.orgAnother biography in French
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Charles Xavier 19th-century French inventors People from Colmar 1785 births 1870 deaths