Biography

 

 

Roger Gaspard entered the Polytechnique in 1920, then Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées in 1924, and graduated in 1926 at Supélec. He began his career in the Seine Department from 1928 to 1942, where he was notably in charge of transport control.During the Second World War, he was director of electricity at the Ministry of Industrial Production and then government representative on the electricity organisation committee (1942-1946). As a member of the Resistance, he was arrested and imprisoned for hiding copper from the Germans.He was Deputy Chief Executive of Electricité De France (EDF) from 1946 to 1947, then from 1947 to 1962 Chief Executive Officer.For 16 years, he initiated ambitious programmes, drove the development of large hydroelectric plants, thermal power stations, the first nuclear power stations and the high voltage power grid.The company’s growth allowed him to redistribute half of the profits to consumers and to borrow, in France and abroad, commensurately with the needs of the time.In 1962, the Government appointed him Chairman of the public electricity establishment, but two years later, at George Pompidou’s request, he left that position to become vice-chairman of the Ponts et Chaussées General Council and, from 1966 to 1969, Chairman of Schneider, which he reorganised in favour of the forges and steelworks of the Creusot.From 1946 to 1962, he was also a director of Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR).From 1974 to 1977, he chaired the executive Council of the World Energy Congress and in particular developed the committee for the preservation of energy resources.

During the Second World War, he set up the Société Technique pour l’Utilisation de la Précontrainte (STUP) and later built numerous structures in France and abroad:Pont de Luzancy in 1946 (unsupported 55 m span using prefabricated voussoirs held together with prestressed cables), runways at Orly in 1947, roofed trench in Rouen in 1948, Esbly Bridge on the Marne in 1949, viaducts on the motorway from Caracas to La Guaira in Venezuela in 1951, Lourdes Underground Basilica in 1958, Pont Saint-Michel in Toulouse in 1959, Lilas reservoir in Paris in 1961, etc.

In 1952, the International Prestressed Concrete Federation was formed.Until his death, he remained intensely active:honorary chairman of the International Prestressed Concrete Federation , consultant engineer for STUP (now the Freyssinet Group) and for the Campenon-Bernard Enterprises. He was appointed honorary Inspector-General of the Ponts et Chaussées.He died on June 8, 1962.

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