Zénobe Théophile Gramme (1826-1901), the father of the dynamo, was a Belgian engineer who lived and died in France.
At the age of 30 he began work in a Paris electrical factory and in 1869 he created his continuous-current dynamo, a working model of which was displayed at the Academy of Sciences in 1871. Later that year, working with Hippolyte Fontaine, a French engineer, he began manufacturing his dynamo. In 1873 they discovered that the device was reversible and would spin when connected to any DC power supply. A working Gramme dynamo was exhibited that year at the Vienna exhibition.
He was voted the 23rd most important Belgian in the 2005 Belgian tv programme Les plus grands Belges.
He is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. On his grave is a statue of the famous Belgian, a copy of which has pride of place in the courtyard of the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris – one of the oldest museums of industry and technology in the world. One hand of the statue holds the induction ring of a dynamo and the other holds a compass.
Musée des arts et métiers, 60 rue Réaumur, Paris 3e
Travel with Intent 
Great beard! And important creation.
ROG, ABCW
LikeLiked by 1 person
Never heard of him before. Thank you for the lesson!
LikeLike
I hadn’t either! 🙂
On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 6:01 PM, Travel with Intent wrote:
>
LikeLike
that is most interesting I remember boys, when I was youn,g boasting about the dynamos’ they has on their bikes.
Being a girl, I hadn’t a clue what they were talking about.
Now I know !
Best wishes,
Di.
ABCW team.
LikeLike
Happy to help 😉
Sent from my iPhone
>
LikeLike
A great choice for Z
LikeLike
Fascinating background on this engineer and his fabulous work and what a beautiful piece of work.
LikeLike
most famous Belgian, an interesting question! I thought it would be Magritte…
LikeLike
He was 9th, with Herge 8th and Simenon 10th. If the survey had been made internationally I think the answers would have been different.
On Tue, Dec 30, 2014 at 12:45 PM, Travel with Intent wrote:
>
LikeLike
I remember having a dynamo on my bike that was powered by the back tyre. Who was voted the most important ever Belgian?
LikeLike
The singer Jaques Brel. But there was a rival contest on Flemish speaking Belgian tv in 2005 and its number one was Father Damien (Pater Damiaan). They only chose 10 so Monsieur Gramme didn’t get a look in
On Tue, Dec 30, 2014 at 11:35 AM, Travel with Intent wrote:
>
LikeLiked by 1 person