Lagout, François Edouard

Contenu

Nom
Lagout, François Edouard
Date de naissance
8 September 1820
Date de mort
18 December 1884
Lieu de naissance
Aigueperse (Puy de Dôme)
Lieu de mort
Nogent-sur-Aube
Couverture temporelle
Mid-19th century
Biographie
Formed in the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées, after two years in Algeria (1846-48), he joined the Compagnie de Chemins de Fer du Midi (1853) and then that of Romains (1857). From this period onwards he was preoccupied by representing mathematically matters of aesthetics. A second preoccupation was to teach the measure of surfaces and the measure of speed (tachymétrie), to those innocent of geometry. In 1876 he was officially appointed by the government to teach his method. In 1869 he devised an instrument 'Régulateur des montres- nouveau cadran solaire equinoctial' intended to allow setting railway men's watches by the Sun while taking into account the equation of time. (1) A report on tis instrument was made to te Académie des Sciences by Faye and Antoine d'Abbadie in 1870. Lagout was promoted Chief Engineer in 1872 (2). One of Lagout's preoccupations was the resolution of aesthetic questions through mathematics on whic subject he publishe several books. Subsequently he attempted to develope methods of simple and rapid tacheometry for use in country districts by those with little or no geometrical training. From 1876 onwards he received some official recognition for this method and was charged by the Minister of Esucation to promulgate it to school-teachers.
Notes biographiques
1. Example in the Musée de la ville de Lavaur. See http://cadransolaire-benoit.fr/cadran-solaire-du tarn-angles-regulateur-des-montres-dangles/ . For a description see Larousse xiii, 869.
2.Based on the notice of Dagout in La Grande Encyclopédie xxi, 765.
Bibliographie
Esthétique nombré, 2 vols, Paris 1861-63
Panorama de la géométrie, 1872 (3e edition 1873).
L'Equation du beau, Paris 1873
Tachymétrie, Paris 1874
Méthode tachymétrique, Paris 1875
Vade mecum takymétrique, Paris 1879
Tachytechnie, 3 vols, Paris 1881-84
Identifiant
ark:/18469/2nzpp