Henri Gautier, sometimes called Hubert Gautier (21 August 1660 – 27 September 1737) was a French
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
. He was born in
Nîmes
Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...
, France.
Career
Gautier initially trained as a medical doctor, turning to mathematics and finally engineering. He served as an engineer for 28 years in the province of
Languedoc
The Province of Languedoc (, , ; ) is a former province of France.
Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately .
History
...
. He was appointed
Inspecteur général des ponts et chaussées in 1713, and moved to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
where he continued working until his retirement in 1731.
In 1716, he wrote the first book on building
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
s, ''Traité des ponts''.
H. Gautier: ''Traité des Ponts''.
2nd Ed. André Cailleau, Paris 1728
He died in Paris, France at the age of 77.
Publications
Gautier wrote several published works on engineering, civil engineering and geology.
*
La bibliotheque des philosophes, volumes I-II
'
Traité de la construction des chemins
File:Gautier-1.jpg, 1723 copy of Volume I of H. Gautier, "La bibliotheque des philosophes"
File:Gautier-4.jpg, Title page to "La bibliotheque des philosophes"
File:Gautier-5.jpg, Preface to "La bibliotheque des philosophes"
See also
* Pierre-Marie-Jérôme Trésaguet
* Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotland, as well ...
* John Loudon McAdam
References
French civil engineers
Corps des ponts
French bridge engineers
1660 births
1737 deaths
People from Nîmes
{{France-engineer-stub