Perronet was born in Suresnes, a suburb of Paris, the son of a Swiss Guardsman. At age 17 he entered the architectural practice of Jean Beausire, "first architect" to the city of Paris, as an apprentice. He was put in charge of the design and construction of Paris's grand sewer, embankment works and the maintenance of the banlieue's roads. In 1735, he was named sous-ingénieur to Alençon and in 1736 entered the Corps des ponts et chaussées. In 1737, he became sous-ingénieur, then engineer to the généralité of Alençon.
Career
In 1747, Perronet was named director of the Bureau des dessinateurs du Roi, which had also just put Daniel-Charles Trudaine in charge of producing maps and plans for the kingdom. This first École des ponts et chaussées was based in the hôtel Libéral Bruant in Paris. Perronet was given the task of training bridge and road engineers and of overseeing their work in the généralités in which they worked. The Bureau became the Bureau des élèves des ponts et chaussées, then in 1775 was renamed the École des ponts et chaussées. Its organiser, inspiration and teacher, Perronet was a true spiritual father to his students and used a new teaching method which seems very contemporary to modern eyes. During this time he became friends with the Swiss bridge-builder Charles Labelye. He was named premier ingénieur du roi in 1763 and became a member of the associate of the Académie des sciences in 1765. Besides his bridges, between 1747 and 1791, 2500 km of roads were created or repaired under his direction. He also contributed the article Pompe à feu to the Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. In 1772, Perronet was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He died in Paris, aged 85. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1788.
Death and legacy
He died on 27 February 1794 in Paris, aged 85. The street next to the site of the École des ponts et chaussées is now named after him and a statue of him has been erected on the northeast corner of the Île de Puteaux, at the foot of the pont de Neuilly. French sculptor Adrien Étienne Gaudez created a monumental statue of Perronet that is erected at the northeast end of Puteaux Island on the Seine River near Paris.
