Gaspard de Prony is remembered in technology for work that changed what came after it.
The record lists Gaspard de Prony as French mathematician and engineer, who worked on hydraulics (1755-1839).
Gaspard de Prony was born at Chamelet in 1755. His recorded nationality is France. He was educated at École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées.
The eighteenth century organised knowledge into academies, expeditions and collections, and turned patronage into something closer to a profession.
The record gives his occupations as mathematician, inventor and physicist.
His affiliations include École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, École polytechnique and Bureau du cadastre.
Among his principal works are De Prony brake, Prony equation and Prony's method. Technical work compounds - each layer makes the next one cheaper to attempt.
His recorded fields of work are construction industry, technique and bridge.
The honours are a fair index of how the work was received - Commander of the Legion of Honour (1833) and Knight of the Order of Saint Michael (1816).
Working from France shaped what was possible - the audiences within reach, the institutions that would have him, the language the work first appeared in.
Gaspard de Prony died in 1839 at the age of 84. The work outlived the arguments around it.
Achievements
- Commander of the Legion of Honour — 1833
- Knight of the Order of Saint Michael — 1816
- Notable work: De Prony brake
- Notable work: Prony equation
- Notable work: Prony's method
- Affiliated with École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, École polytechnique and Bureau du cadastre
- Educated at École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées
- Worked as mathematician, inventor and physicist
