Jean Henri Bertin (5 September 1917 – 21 December 1975) was a French scientist, engineer and inventor. He was born in Druyes-les-Belles-Fontaines and died in

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the ...

. He is best known as the lead engineer for the French experimental

Aérotrain The Aérotrain was an experimental Tracked Air Cushion Vehicle (TACV), or hovertrain, developed in France from 1965 to 1977 under the engineering leadership of Jean Bertin (1917–1975) – and intended to bring the French rail network to the ...

mass transit system. He studied at the

École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

(graduating in 1938) and at the

École nationale supérieure de l'aéronautique et de l'espace 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 ...

. From 1944 he worked for the French National Society for the Development of Aircraft Engines ( Société nationale d'études et de construction de moteurs d'aviation). In 1955 he founded the company Bertin & Cie, whose most famous activity was the development of the

. Bertin died just over a year and a half after the French government terminated the contract for a planned Aérotrain line between Cergy and La Défense.Biography of Jean Bertin
''aernav.free.fr'', accessed 12 June 2018

References

French aerospace engineers École Polytechnique alumni Supaéro alumni 20th-century French engineers 1917 births 1975 deaths 20th-century French inventors Space program of France {{France-scientist-stub