Pierre-Dominique Bazaine

Who was Pierre-Dominique Bazaine?

Pierre-Dominique Bazaine was a French scientist and engineer. He was educated at the École polytechnique in Paris as an engineer. At the request of Alexander I of Russia he was sent to Russia by Napoleon I as an army officer in the engineering corps to set up an institute for the education of transportation engineers, and in 1824 he became its director. Bazaine remained in Russia until 1834, organizing transportation routes and directing the work of inland navigation. He was responsible for many of the bridges of St. Petersburg and its outskirts, as well as other major civil engineering projects, including flood protection. He received many Honours and Awards for his extensive contribution to the infrastructure of Russia, as well as Honorary Fellowship of a number of science academies across Europe for his ground-breaking mathematical theses. He finally returned to France in 1834 and died in Paris aged 52 in 1838.