Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes ProCon History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture Money Videos
Bernard Forest de Belidor
Table of Contents
Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Related Questions
Read Next
Old medieval wooden pirate military war ship with a cannon on the deck pointed out and aiming
Pirate School: 5 Things You Can Shoot from a Cannon
Sydney Opera House, Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia.
Why New York Is Called "The Big Apple" and How 8 Other Famous Cities Got Their Nicknames
Extension of the Louvre, Paris, designed in the Second Empire style by L.-T.-J. Visconti and Hector Lefuel, 1852-57
10 Places in (and around) Paris
German machine gunners occupy a trench during World War I.
Weapons of World War I
Discover
Baseball laying in the grass. Homepage blog 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society, sports and games athletics
10 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time
The Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. (Alice in Wonderland)
11 Banned Books Through Time
Santa Claus flying in his sleigh, christmas, reindeer
Was Santa Claus a Real Person?
An ancient egyptian hieroglyphic painted carving showing the falcon headed god Horus seated on a throne and holding a golden fly whisk. Before him are the Pharoah Seti and the goddess Isis. Interior wall of the temple to Osiris at Abydos, Egypt.
11 Egyptian Gods and Goddesses
Diverse elementary school children wearing school uniforms running outside of school. Boys girls
Pro and Con: School Uniforms
Thumbnail for flags that look alike quiz Russia, Slovenia, Iceland, Norway
Flags That Look Alike
Title: Senate Square, St. Petersburg, December 14, 1825: repression of the troop mutiny - watercolor by Carl Ivanovitch Kollman, 1825 depicts Decembrist uprising clashing with cavalry, with spectators watching. (new style December 26, 1825) Europe. Saint
8 of the Largest Empires in History

Bernard Forest de Belidor

French engineer
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
Written and fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Article History
Quick Facts
Born:
1698, Catalonia, Spain
Died:
Sept. 8, 1761, Paris, France (aged 63)
See all related content

Bernard Forest de Belidor (born 1698, Catalonia, Spain—died Sept. 8, 1761, Paris, France) was a military and civil engineer and author of a classic work on hydraulics.

After serving in the French army at an early age, he developed an interest in science and worked on the measurement of an arc of the Earth. The study of ballistics also attracted him, and he became professor of artillery at the French military school at La Fère and eventually rose to become inspector of artillery. He wrote several notable books on engineering, artillery, ballistics, and fortifications, but his fame rests primarily on Architecture hydraulique, in four volumes (1737–53), covering engineering mechanics, mills and waterwheels, pumps, harbours, and sea works.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.