AgustÃn de Betancourt
Agustín José Pedro del Carmen Domingo de Candelaria de Betancourt y Molina (Russian Августин Хосе Педро дель Кармен Доминго де Канделярия де Бетанкур и Молина ( Августин де Бетанкур и Молина ); than Russian: Agustín Augustínowitsch Betancourt ( Августин Августинович Бетанкур ) * 1 February 1758 Puerto de la Orotava (now Puerto de la Cruz ). , Tenerife; † 14 Julijul / July 26 1824greg Saint Petersburg ) was a Spanish engineer and a Russian general. .
Life
Technically interested Betancourt began his varied career as an officer in the Spanish army. Already at the age of twenty he had the rank of lieutenant. During his time in Madrid during the years 1778 to 1784 he attended lectures at the Royal University of San Isidro and the Art Academy of San Fernando. Using one of King Charles III. scholarship granted studied Betancourt - now an honorary member of the Royal Academy - in 1784 in Paris initially Physics and Geology, 1786, he specialized in hydraulics and mechanics. He further enhanced his technical knowledge during his stay in England 1793-1796 and developed increasingly practical ingenuity. He was also instrumental in the founding of the Madrid Academy of road and water, was a Director 1802-1807. After that, he left Spain and traveled via Paris at the invitation of Tsar Alexander I in St. Petersburg, where he went to his services.
He was appointed Marshal of the Russian army and was a counselor of the Department of Kommunikatonswege. Later he received the title of an inspector of the Institute of Engineering and rose in 1819 to become Director of the Department of Kommunikatonswege. In the course of sixteen years, he changed the academic areas of the Institute of Engineering in numerous publications ( the Newabrücke, the modernization of armories in Tula and the cannon factory in Kazan, fishing in Kronstadt, the Baueinrüstung for Isaac's Cathedral and the installing stands of the Alexander Column, the named after him Betancourt canal in St. Petersburg, the fair in Nizhny Novgorod, the note printing, the steam boat ride on the Volga, water supply systems, railways, etc. ). At the end of his life to himself the ratio deteriorated to the tsar, as a result of which Betancourt left his position as director of the institute in 1822 and until his death led a secluded life.
Services
In 1798 he designed in the French style first optical telegraph line in Spain was built that connected Cádiz and Madrid. Later Betancourt worked as a Russian general with (the Department of message paths ) active in the reconstruction of the burned Moscow 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 started in 1818 in St. Petersburg. He is considered the first writer of literature on machines whose structure, function, and classification of mechanisms according to the criteria of the motion conversion.
He spoke a variety of languages like Spanish, German, French, Russian, English, Latin.
Works (excerpts)
He is the author of a variety of works, project sketches and essays, including:
- Essai sur la composition des machines (Treatise on the composition of machines)
- Plan 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.