Auguste Rateau (13 October 1863 – 13 January 1930) was an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

and

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

born in

Royan Royan (; in the Saintongeais dialect; oc, Roian) is a commune and town in the south-west of France, in the department of Charente-Maritime in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Its inhabitants are known as ''Royannais'' and ''Royannaises''. Cap ...

, France, specializing in

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating ...

Biography

After studies, first at the

École Polytechnique École 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 The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern Franc ...

and then at the École des Mines de Paris, he began his career as a teacher at the

École des Mines de Saint-Étienne École 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 * École, Sa ...

from 1888 to 1897. He then embarked on an industrial career exploiting turbines. He manufactured fans for mines, blowers for steel mills, water pumps, and

steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turb ...

s for ships. To this end, he created a design office in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

and, in 1903, the ''Société pour l’exploitation des appareils Rateau'', which moved in 1917 to

La Courneuve La Courneuve () is a commune in Seine-Saint-Denis, France. It is located from the center of Paris. History Inhabited since pre-Roman times, the area is thought to have been a small village up through the Middle Ages. With its proximity to Pa ...

where he opened a

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with t ...

two years later. The company has since been integrated into

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Av ...

, and La Courneuve's premises are still operated by GE Power Service. This entity manages the maintenance of turbomachines, turbo-pumps and turbocompressors installed on nuclear, thermal and industrial sites in France and in some parts of the world. In 1928 he founded the ''

Association Française de Normalisation Association Française de Normalisation (AFNOR, English: French Standardization Association) is a Paris-based standards organization and a member body for France at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The AFNOR Group develop ...

'', the French national organization for

standardization Standardization or standardisation is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organizations and governments. Standardization ...

, and served as president. Rateau was a

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain ...

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 Napoleon ...

() and a member of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at th ...

(). {{DEFAULTSORT:Rateau, Auguste 1863 births 1930 deaths People from Royan 20th-century French engineers 20th-century French inventors Steam turbines Turbines Members of the French Academy of Sciences École Polytechnique alumni Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Mines ParisTech alumni