ENGINEER

Fulgence Bienvenüe

1852 - 1936

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Fulgence Bienvenüe (French pronunciation: [fylʒɑ̃s bjɛ̃v(ə)ny]; 27 January 1852 – 3 August 1936) was a French civil engineer, best known for his role in the construction of the Paris Métro, and has been called "Le Père du Métro" (Father of the Metro).: 162  A native of Uzel in Brittany, and the son of a notary, in 1872 Bienvenüe graduated from the École Polytechnique as a civil engineer: 150  and the same year he began working for the Department of Bridges and Roads at Alençon.: 150  His first assignment was the construction of new railway lines in the Mayenne area, in the course of which his left arm had to be amputated after being crushed in a construction accident. In 1886, Bienvenüe moved on to Paris to design and supervise the construction of aqueducts for the city, drawing water from the rivers Aube and Loire.: 151  Next, he built a cable railway near the Place de la République and created the park of Buttes-Chaumont.: 151  In 1891, he was appointed as Engineer-in-Chief for Bridges and Roads, the most prestigious engineering job in France.: 151  Paris city officials selected Bienvenüe to become chief engineer for the Paris Métro in 1896. He designed a special way of building new tunnels which allowed the swift repaving of the roads above; this involved (among other things) building the crown of the tunnel first and the floor last, the reverse of the usual method at that time.: 151, 162  Bienvenüe has the credit for the mostly swift and relatively uneventful construction of the Métro through the difficult and heterogenous Parisian soils and rocks.: 150–1, 162  He came up with the idea of freezing wet and unstable soil in order to permit the drilling of tunnels. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Fulgence Bienvenüe has received more than 46,649 page views. His biography is available in 18 different languages on Wikipedia. Fulgence Bienvenüe is the 272nd most popular engineer (down from 259th in 2019), the 4,290th most popular biography from France (down from 3,978th in 2019) and the 51st most popular French Engineer.

Memorability Metrics

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    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 18

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 2.23

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.34

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among ENGINEERS

Among engineers, Fulgence Bienvenüe ranks 272 out of 389Before him are Sergey Chaplygin, Mikhail Simonov, Boris Chertok, Verghese Kurien, Marcel Deprez, and Hendrik Wade Bode. After him are Louis Pouzin, Preston Tucker, Robert W. Paul, Gerhard Fieseler, Rudy Van Gelder, and Mikhail Tikhonravov.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1852, Fulgence Bienvenüe ranks 96Before him are Felix Graf von Bothmer, Curt von François, Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak, Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan, Prince Carl Oscar, Duke of Södermanland, and Lin Shu. After him are Theodore Robinson, Hans Huber, Eilif Peterssen, Augusta, Lady Gregory, Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema, and Johan Ramstedt. Among people deceased in 1936, Fulgence Bienvenüe ranks 153Before him are Oscar von Sydow, Rizaeddin bin Fakhreddin, Duchess Helene of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Horacio Vásquez, Ludwig von Falkenhausen, and Ernestine Schumann-Heink. After him are Rodney Heath, Alexandros Papanastasiou, Henry B. Walthall, Marianne Hainisch, Niels Neergaard, and Marilyn Miller.

Others Born in 1852

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Others Deceased in 1936

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In France

Among people born in France, Fulgence Bienvenüe ranks 4,290 out of 6,770Before him are Joseph Roumanille (1818), Charles Rigoulot (1903), Claire Bretécher (1940), Jean-François Séguier (1703), Jean Tiberi (1935), and Daniel Morelon (1944). After him are Hans van den Broek (1936), Olivier Roy (1949), Louis Pouzin (1931), Karen Lancaume (1973), Léopold Eyharts (1957), and Francis Blanche (1921).

Among ENGINEERS In France

Among engineers born in France, Fulgence Bienvenüe ranks 51Before him are René Panhard (1841), Eugène Flachat (1802), Louis Vicat (1786), Jean-Augustin Barral (1819), Ernest Goüin (1815), and Marcel Deprez (1843). After him are Louis Pouzin (1931), Pierre-François Bouchard (1771), Robert Esnault-Pelterie (1881), Charles Combes (1801), Louis Armand (1905), and Marc René, marquis de Montalembert (1714).