Pierre-Dominique Bazaine
| Pierru-Dominique Bazaine | |
|---|---|
Lt Gen Pierre-Dominique Bazaine (1786-1838)
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| Born |
13 January 1786 Scy, France |
| Died | 29 September 1838 (aged 52) Paris, France |
| Residence |
 Russian Empire
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| Citizenship |
 France
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| Nationality |
French
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| Fields | Mathematician and engineer |
| Institutions | French Army |
| Alma mater | École Polytechnique |
| Known for | Canals, bridges and flood defences in St.Petersburg, Russia, esp First Engineer Bridge which was named after him |
| Notable awards |
Order of St.Vladimir Grand Cross of Order of St. Alexander Nevsky Commander of the Legion d'Honneur Prussian Order of the Red Eagle (1st Class) Polish Order of the White Eagle Honorary fellow of St Petersburg Academy Honorary Fellow or Foreign Member of the Science Academies of Turin, Munich, Stockholm and St Petersburg. |
| Notes | |
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His elder son Pierre-Dominique was also a Civil Engineer and his younger son Achille became a Marshal of France.
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Pierru-Dominique Bazaine (1786 - 1838) (Пётр Петрович Базен) was a French scientist and engineer. He was educated at the École polytechnique in Paris as an engineer. At the request of Alexander I of Russia he was sent to Russia by Napoleon I as an army officer in the engineering corps to set up an institute for the education of transportation engineers, and in 1824 he became its director. Bazaine remained in Russia until 1834, organizing transportation routes and directing the work of inland navigation. He was responsible for many of the bridges of St. Petersburg and its outskirts (including a number of the small and elegant lightweight iron bridges in the Summer Garden), as well as other major civil engineering projects, including flood protection. He received many Honours and Awards for his extensive contribution to the infrastructure of Russia, as well as Honorary Fellowship of a number of science academies across Europe for his ground-breaking mathematical theses. He finally returned to France in 1834 and died in Paris aged 52 in 1838.
He was born 13 January 1786, in the town of Scy-sur-Moselle, son of Pierre Bazaine (1760-1832) and Francoise Gilbert. Educated in Paris, graduate of the Ecole polytechnique and the Ecole des ponts. Initially he practised as an Engineer in Italy and Southern France. His outstanding abilities drew the attention of Napoleon I who subsequently recommended him to the Russian Emperor Czar Alexander I, along with engineers Fabrom, Destremom and Potier, to take up senior posts in the Russia corps of Civil Engineers. Bazaine arrived in St.Petersburg, Russia in 1810 with Lieutenant Fabrom but due war with France, did not immediately take up his post. Instead he was sent to Odessa under the Governor-General of the Duke de Richelieu, where his first work was at the Russian port of Evpatoriya. He was then sent to Yaroslavl, to Poshehone and then in 1812 due to the war with France, he was deported to Eastern Siberia, where he spent more than two years. Bazaine devoted himself entirely to science and analytics whilst in Siberia, writing his great treatise on differential calculus and several memoirs about plane geometry and properties of various lengths in three dimensions. In 1815, with the end of war in Europe, he returned to St. Petersburg where with the new rank of Colonel, he was appointed Chair Professor of Higher Analytics and Mechanics at the Civil Engineering Institute. In 1820, he was promoted to Major-General and in 1823 he was appointed a member of the Council Ways and Communications, being made Inspector-General. In January 1824, He became Director of the Imperial Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, and also Chairman of the Committee for Buildings and Hydraulic works in St.Petersburg. In 1828, Bazaine returned to France but on his return to Russia was promoted to Lieutenant General on 1 April 1830. Bazaine's structural engineering works were extensive and much remains in the historic infrastructure in Russia. His main works are:
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