Research and Researchers in the Field of Works of Art and Historical Monuments. The School of Bridges and Roads in France -- the first school of engineers in this field in the world
Tomme: LII (LVI) Fascicle: 3-4 | 2006
Pages: 121-132
Abstract text:
Romanian higher education began a long time ago, having its own national specificity but being also influenced by the education from other developed countries. Between 1813 -- 1840 Gh. Asachi created the School of Terminal Engineering, establishing the foundations of the Technical Engineering University. In Moldavia, higher education in engineering, in the field of roads and bridges, coincides with the official opening of the Faculty of Construction of Jassy, in 1941, as part of the Polytechnic Institute, today the „Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University. Over the years, this type of education has evolved and developed, under the influence of schools of engineering such as The School of Bridges and Roads in France. The French School of Bridges and Roads was created by a decree of the king, on the 14th of February 1747. In two and a half centuries, it has trained about 15,000 engineers, who accomplished great works both in their native country and abroad. The reputation of this school is based especially on the discoveries, the accomplishments and the activity of these engineers, who have a great impact on the development of this institution. Most of these engineers did not go down in history (we seldom know the name of the person who built a bridge or a road). We remember some of them by a formula, a machine, a plate on a road, without actually knowing who is the person behind the name. Shaping their portraits, we could bring them back to the memory of the public, emphasizing the common aspects of their professional training at the School of Bridges and Roads. A free professional background, of a high scientific level, comprising a lot of practical issues, based on public transport in the beginning, where reflection and action play an important part. Except a lot of great scientists (among them, a Nobel prize laureate), inventors, entrepreneurs, engineers with prestigious accomplishments, there are also politicians (even a president), writers, a navigator. The selection of these personalities was difficult and can be contested. It was not intented to establish a hierarchy, but only to create a gallery of portraits, the only criterion taken into account being the exclusion of those engineers who are still alive. Unfortunately, there is no woman among these portraits, because their access was only permitted in 1959 for civil engineers and in 1975 for the others. We hope that this anomaly will be redressed in the paper celebrating 300 years of existence of this school. After a quarter of a millennium, in the 21st century, the oldest civil school of engineers in the world, created during the reign of Louis XV, remains what it has always been: a way of modern training in the benefit of the nation and of society, having the ambition to instruct a quality personnel, able to adapt to the problems and needs of its epoch. With a prestigious heritage, the School of Bridges and Roads has evolved and transformed during its 250 years of existence, always remaining proud of its past and at the same time open towards the future. Many authors have already mentioned the history, rich in events, of this institution. We shall try to describe it concisely in the present paper. We shall present some portaits of well-known engineers: great constructors, inventors, scientists, making themselves known in other areas than their initial training, they illustrate a less known aspect of the life of the roads and bridges engineer, a rich, intense, varied life and activity. The objective of this paper is to allow a better understanding of what has been, over the past 250 years, the french School of Roads and Bridges.
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