Henri de Miffonis occupation civil engineer
Henri de Miffonis (May 24, 1882 - 1955), born as Louis Fernand Henri de Miffonis, was a civil engineer. He was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, France and died in Canada in 1955. Miffonis specialized in the construction of lighthouses. He studied in civil engineering at the University of Paris. In 1905, after obtaining his diploma, he accepted an offer of employment with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Canada for work with the Commission des phares (Commission of Lighthouses), newly created. Miffonis' work was supervised by the Chief Engineer of the Commission, William Patrick Anderson, a fervent promoter of reinforced concrete in the construction of lighthouses.
The recruitment of Miffonis, for his competence in the use of concrete, corresponded with an intense period of maritime infrastructure construction in Canada, and in particular, the construction of lighthouses. During the first three years of the Commission, Miffonis developed and patented in 1908 plans for the design of tapered reinforced concrete lighthouses with flying buttresses.
The importance of Miffonis' role in the construction of Canadian lighthouses between 1908 and 1913 was underestimated until the rediscovery of his correspondence with Anderson. In 1913, Miffonis published a work presenting calculations showing the use of reinforced concrete and its advantages in the construction of lighthouses.
At the end of the First World War, there was little construction of new lighthouses and Miffonis ended his career with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
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