Pierre-Simon Girard, French mathematician and engineer (d. 1836)
Pierre-Simon Girard (4 November 1765 – 30 November 1836) was a French mathematician and engineer, who worked on fluid mechanics.
Girard was born in Caen. A prodigy who invented a water turbine at the age of ten, he worked as an engineer at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées. He was in charge of planning and construction of the Amiens canal and the Ourcq canal. He collaborated with Gaspard de Prony on the Dictionnaire des Ponts et Chaussées (Dictionary of Bridges and Highways, 1787). He wrote on fluids, and in 1798 he published a monograph, Traité analytique de la résistance des solides on beam theory, including possibly its first history, within the topic of strength of materials. The complicated beam equations were not of practical much use, since he applied Euler's non-linear theory. In 1799, he and other engineers and scientists accompanied Napoleon on his expedition to Egypt. He died in Paris, aged 71.
1765Nov, 4
Pierre-Simon Girard
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Events on 1765
- 9Mar
Jean Calas
After a campaign by the writer Voltaire, judges in Paris posthumously exonerate Jean Calas of murdering his son. Calas had been tortured and executed in 1762 on the charge, though his son may have actually committed suicide. - 22Mar
Stamp Act 1765
The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act that introduces a tax to be levied directly on its American colonies. - 24Mar
Quartering Act
Great Britain passes the Quartering Act, which requires the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops.