Zénobe Théophile Gramme (4 April 1826 – 20 January 1901) was a Belgian

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

. He was born at Jehay-Bodegnée on 4 April 1826, the sixth child of Mathieu-Joseph Gramme, and died at

Bois-Colombes Bois-Colombes () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. In 2017, it had a population of 28,239. International companies such as Colgate-Palmolive, IBM and Aviva have their French head ...

on 20 January 1901. He invented the Gramme machine, a type of

direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or ev ...

dynamo "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator. Dynamos were the first electrical generators capable of delivering power for industry, and the foundati ...

capable of generating smoother (less AC) and much higher voltages than the dynamos known to that point.

Career

Gramme was poorly educated and semi-literate throughout his life. His talent was in handicraft and when he left school he became a joiner. After moving to Paris he took a job as a model maker at a company that manufactured electrical equipment and there became interested in technology. Having built an improved dynamo, Gramme, in association with

Hippolyte Fontaine Hippolyte Fontaine (born François-Hypolite Fontaine, 12 April 1833 in Dijon – 17 February 1910 in Hyères) was a French electrical engineer who worked with Zénobe Gramme on the development of the Gramme machine (the first industrially viable ...

, opened a factory to develop the device. The business, called Société des Machines Magnéto-Électriques Gramme, manufactured the Gramme dynamo, Gramme ring, Gramme armature and other devices. In 1873 a Gramme dynamo was exhibited at the Vienna exhibition. He was made an officer of the National Order of the

Legion of Honour 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 Napoleo ...

in 1877. In 1888 he was awarded the last of the valuable

Volta Prize The Volta Prize (French: ''prix Volta'') was originally established by Napoleon III during the Second French Empire in 1852 to honor Alessandro Volta, an Italian physicist noted for developing the electric battery.John L. Davis. Artisans and savan ...

s by the French government.

Gramme machine as motor

In 1873 he and

accidentally discovered that the device was reversible and would spin when connected to any DC power supply. The Gramme machine was the first usefully powerful

electrical motor An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate force ...

that was successful industrially. Before Gramme's inventions, electric motors attained only low power and were mainly used as toys or laboratory curiosities. In 1875,

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 1856 – 7 January 1943 ...

observed a Gramme machine at the

Graz University of Technology Graz University of Technology (german: link=no, Technische Universität Graz, short ''TU Graz'') is one of five universities in Styria, Austria. It was founded in 1811 by Archduke John of Austria and is the oldest science and technology research ...

. He conceived the idea of using it for

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...

but was unable to develop the idea at this time.

Family

In 1857 he married Hortense Nysten who was a widow and mother of a daughter, Héloïse. Hortense died in 1890. On August 17, 1891, he married Antonie Schentur in

Death and tributes

Gramme died at

, France, on 20 January 1901 and was buried in

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figure ...

. In the town where his second wife grew up and that Gramme visited every year for a few months, he donated the construction of an avenue to cool the underground water pipe built in 1898. It was named Gramme-Allee in 1902. In the city of

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far fro ...

there is a graduate school of engineering, l'

Institut Gramme The Gramme Institute is a graduate school of engineering part of Haute École HELMo in Liège in Belgium. It was founded in 1906 by Belgian Jesuit Adolphe Renard. It was named "''Ecole des Arts et Métiers''" after the same school in France. The f ...

, named after him. In 2005 he ended up at the 23rd place in the election of ''

Le plus grand Belge ''Les plus grands Belges'' ( French for "The Greatest Belgians"), is a television show that aired in 2005 on the Belgian French-speaking public channel RTBF. In the program the audience could vote for the greatest Belgian by using the website, se ...

'' (The Greatest Belgian), the television show broadcast by the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

-speaking

RTBF The ''Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française'' (RTBF, ''Belgian Radio-television of the French Community'', branded as rtbf.be) is a public service broadcaster delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Comm ...

and based on the BBC show

100 Greatest Britons ''100 Greatest Britons'' is a television series that was broadcast by the BBC in 2002. It was based on a television poll conducted to determine who the British people at that time considered the greatest Britons in history. The series included in ...

. A958 ''Zenobe Gramme'', (1961–), a sailing ship of the

Belgian Navy The Belgian Navy, officially the Belgian Naval Component ( nl, Marinecomponent; french: Composante marine; german: Marinekomponente ) of the Belgian Armed Forces, is the naval service of Belgium. History Early history The Belgian Navy w ...

used for training, is named after him.

Honours

* Commander in the Order of Leopold. * Officer in the

Picture gallery

Image:Zenobe Gramme dsc03852.jpg, Zénobe Gramme, by

Mathurin Moreau Mathurin Moreau (18 November 1822 – 14 February 1912) was a French sculptor in the academic style. Moreau was born in Dijon, first exhibited in the 1848 Salon, and finally received a medal of honor from the Salon in 1897. He was made may ...

File:Perelachaise-Gramme-p1000390.jpg, Grave at Cemetery Père-Lachaise File:GrammeMachine.jpg, Gramme machine

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gramme, Zenobe 1826 births 1901 deaths People from Liège Province 19th-century Belgian engineers 19th-century Belgian inventors Belgian physicists Belgian electrical engineers Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery