Alphonse Lavallée (1791–1873) is the founder of the

École Centrale Paris École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

, a French ''

Grande École Grande means "large" or "great" in many of the Romance languages. It may also refer to: Places *Grande, Germany, a municipality in Germany *Grande Communications, a telecommunications firm based in Texas *Grande-Rivière (disambiguation) *Arroio ...

''. He was born in Savigné-l'Évêque (

Sarthe Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the '' Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It ha ...

region,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

). After studying law in Paris, Lavallée became the director of various companies such as the

Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans The ''Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans'' (, PO) was an early French railway company. It merged with the '' Chemins de fer du Midi'' to form the '' Chemins de fer de Paris à Orléans et du Midi'' (PO-Midi) in 1934. In 1938 the PO ...

. He also became a businessman in the region of

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

, working for ten years with his brother-in-law who was a

shipowner A shipowner, ship owner or ship-owner is the owner of a ship. They can be merchant vessels involved in the shipping industry or non commercially owned. In the commercial sense of the term, a shipowner is someone who equips and exploits a ship, us ...

of the

merchant vessel A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which a ...

''Bourgault Ducoudray''. After moving to Paris in 1827 where he moved with his wife and his one-year-old daughter, Amazilli, Lavallée became a shareholder of the ''

Le Globe ''Le Globe'' was a French newspaper, published in Paris by the Bureau du Globe between 1824 and 1832, and created with the goal of publishing Romantic creations. It was established by Pierre Leroux and the printer Alexandre Lachevardière. Aft ...

'', a liberal opposition newspaper with

Saint-Simonian Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon (; ; 17 October 1760 – 19 May 1825), better known as Henri de Saint-Simon (), was a French political, economic and socialist theorist and businessman whose thought had a substantial influence on po ...

roots. Two years later, Lavallée decides to create a new school of engineering for the emerging industrial sector in France, at a time where all the leading institutions were essentially training engineers for public administration. He founded in 1829 the prominent

École centrale des arts et manufactures École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

in Paris, also known as the

, with the help of three scientists: the chemist

Jean-Baptiste Dumas Jean Baptiste André Dumas (; 14 July 180010 April 1884) was a French chemist, best known for his works on organic analysis and synthesis, as well as the determination of atomic weights (relative atomic masses) and molecular weights by measuri ...

, the physicist

Jean Claude Eugène Péclet Jean Claude Eugène Péclet (10 February 1793 – 6 December 1857) was a French physicist. He was born in Besançon, France. Péclet became, in 1812, one of the first students of the École Normale in Paris with Gay-Lussac and Dulong being hi ...

and the mathematician Théodore Olivier. Lavallée provided most of the funds with his private capital to establish the school and became its first president (''directeur''). The first location of the school was the ''Hôtel de Juigné'' building in the

Marais Marais (, meaning "marsh") may refer to: People * Marais (given name) * Marais (surname) Other uses * Le Marais, historic district of Paris * Théâtre du Marais, the name of several theatres and theatrical troupes in Paris, France * Marais (com ...

district, which has now become the

Musée Picasso Musée Picasso () is an art gallery located in the Hôtel Salé () in rue de Thorigny, in the Marais district of Paris, France, dedicated to the work of the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881–1973). The museum collection includes more than ...

. His son,

Pierre Alphonse Martin Lavallée Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French language, French form of the name Peter (given name), Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via ...

(1836–1884), created an

arboretum An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

in the park of the ''Château de Segrez'' in Saint-Sulpice-de-Favières (

Essonne Essonne () is a department in the southern part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. It is named after the river Essonne. In 2019, it had a population of 1,301,659, across 194 communes.Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

at the time. He died in Paris on May 15, 1873 at the age of 75 and is buried in the ''Père Lachaise'' Cemetery.

References

External links

''Château de Segrez''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavallee, Alphonse 1791 births 1873 deaths 19th-century French people Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery