Bernard Simon

Bernard, Simon, engineer, was born in 1779 at Dole. Educated at the Ecole Polytechnique, when Laplace and Hauy were among the masters, he so profited by the instructions he received that he soon after entering the army became one of Napoleon's most distinguished engineer officers. After the emperor's defeat he withdrew to the United States, where he executed engineering works of hitherto unexampled magnitude - vast canals, the fortification of 4,500 miles of frontier. etc. Returning to France after the Revolution of 1830, he was in 1836 chosen minister of war to Louis Philippe. He died in 1839.