Biography

 

Having fulfilled the role of counsel, Councillor of State and general intendant for Riom, he was chosen in 1743 by the Controller-General Orry to head the bridges and roads department as intendant of finances.His first task, in 1744, was to create a draughtsman’s office with the role of drawing and maintaining maps of the kingdom’s main roads.In 1747, an order of the King’s Council transformed this “office” into a school, and gave Jean Rodolphe Perronet the task of setting up a specific training programme for geometers and producers of plans and maps, to give them the skills for the different tasks associated with roads and bridges.This programme would soon be applied to engineers themselves.

In 1749, Trudaine was appointed Trade Director, a substantial position, which put him in charge of all France’s trade intendants, and one that he occupied until his death.In 1750, Trudaine created the corps of road and bridge engineers.In 1775, the school acquired the name it holds today.

A great administrator, Trudaine was also the impetus behind numerous major structures:the Orléans, Moulins, Tours, Joigny bridges... some 10,000 km of metalled roads linking Paris to the borders and to the main seaports.At the time, this road network was considered one of the best in Europe:roads as straight as possible, with a width of 60 feet (19.4 m) lined with trees supplied by the Royal nurseries and with ditches maintained by local people.He was the man behind them.

He also produced very precise maps of 22 areas, known as Trudaine’s Atlas.

This enlightened individual, a lawyer by training, had wide-ranging interests:for example, he carried out various agricultural experiments in the park of his estate and transplanted exotic plants (even a Lebanese cedar brought back from England by Jussieu).Open-minded, he was fascinated by Daubenton’s work on sheep breeding and founded the veterinary schools in Lyon and Alfort.He was keen to reduce the burdens of the peasants and to improve the living conditions of his fellow citizens.An ideal Enlightenment man, he followed the development of the sciences in his time and stood ready to give them the necessary impetus.

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