Agustin de Betancourt

Agustín José Pedro del Carmen Domingo de Candelaria de Betancourt y Molina ( russ. Августин Хосе Педро дель Кармен Доминго де Канделярия де Бетанкур и Молина (Августин де Бетанкур и Молина); as Russian: Augustín Augustínowitsch Betankur (Августин Августинович Бетанкур); * 1st february 1758 Puerto de la Orotava (now Puerto de la Cruz ), Tenerife , † July 14 ^{. jul} / 26. July 1824 ^{. greg} Saint Petersburg ) was a Spanish engineer and Russian General .

Life

Technically interested, Betancourt began his varied career as an officer in the Spanish army. At the age of 20 he already held the rank of first lieutenant . During his time in Madrid from 1778 to 1784, he attended lectures at the Colegio Imperial de Madrid and the San Fernando Art Academy . By means of one of King Charles III. granted scholarship studied Betancourt - now an honorary member of the Royal Academy - from 1784 at the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees in Paris first physics and geology , from 1786, he specialized in hydraulics and mechanics . Furthermore, he deepened his technical knowledge during his stay in England between 1793 and 1796 and developed increasingly practical inventiveness. He was also instrumental in founding the Madrid Escuela Oficial del Cuerpo de Ingenieros de Caminos (today: ETSI Caminos, Canales y Puertos of the Polytechnic University of Madrid ), of which he was director between 1802 and 1807. After this activity he left Spain and at the invitation of Tsar Alexander I traveled to St. Petersburg via Paris at the end of 1807 , where he went into his service.

He was appointed Marshal of the Russian Army and was a councilor for the Communications Department . He later received the title of inspector of the Institute of the Corps of Engineers and in 1819 rose to director of the Department of Communications . Over the course of sixteen years he shaped Russian engineering through numerous public buildings and projects, especially in Saint Petersburg such as the bridge over the Little Neva , the modernization of the armory in Tula and the cannon factory in Kazan , the fishing in Kronstadt , the scaffolding for the St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Alexander column , which was named after him Betancourt canal in St. Petersburg, the exhibition hall in Nizhny Novgorod and the local Cathedral , the Russian banknote printing , the Great Manege in Moscow. He also dealt with steam navigation on the Volga, water supply systems, railways, etc.

Towards the end of his life his relationship with the tsar deteriorated, as a result of which Betancourt left his position as director of the institute in 1822 and led a secluded life until his death.

Since 1820 he was a foreign member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

Tomb of Agustín de Betancourt

Services

Russian postage stamp in honor of Betancourt's 250th birthday (2008)

In 1798 the first optical telegraph line in Spain, which he designed based on the French model, was set up to connect Cadiz with Madrid. Later, Betancourt took an active part as a Russian general (the department for communication routes) in the reconstruction of Moscow, which burned down in 1812 , and worked on various technical and infrastructural projects in Russia. Among other things, he was involved in the construction of the dome of St. Isaac's Cathedral, begun in 1818, in St. Petersburg . He is regarded as the first author of specialist literature on machines, their construction, function and the classification of mechanisms according to the criteria of motion conversion.

He spoke a variety of languages such as Spanish , German , French , Russian , English , Latin .

Works (excerpts)

He is the author of a large number of works, project sketches and essays, including:

Essai sur la composition des machines ( Treatise on the composition of machines )
Plans du pont de bateaux de Saint-Issac sur grande Néva - Sur un nouveau système de navigation intérieure

He was in correspondence with Carl Friedrich Gauss .

literature

Marco G. Ceccarelli (Ed.): Distinguished Figures in Mechanism and Machine Science . Springer Netherlands, Berlin 2007; ISBN 1-4020-6365-2 (book on the Spanish period A. de Betancourts)
Jacques Payen: Betancourt y Molina, Augustin de . In: Charles Coulston Gillispie: Dictionary of Scientific Biography . Charles Scribner's Sons , New York 1970-1980, pp 104-105; ISBN 0-684-10114-9 .
Алексей Ренкель: Бетанкур - россиянин с острова Тенерифе (Alexej Renkel: Betancourt - a Russian from the island of Tenerife ). In: Изобретатель и рационализатор ( inventor and rationalizer ). ИР 12 (684) за 2006 г. ИСТОРИЯ ТЕХНИКИ (vol. 12 (684), 2006 history of technology)
Diccionario Biográfico - Español e Hispanoamericano . Larousse

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Betancourt, Agustín de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Betancourt y Molina, Agustín José Pedro del Carmen Domingo de Candelaria de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Spanish engineer and Russian general
DATE OF BIRTH	February 1, 1758
PLACE OF BIRTH	Puerto de la Cruz , Tenerife, Spain
DATE OF DEATH	July 26, 1824
Place of death	Saint Petersburg , Russia