Henri Pitot
(born May 3, 1695, Aramon, France?died December 27, 1771, Aramon) was a French hydraulic engineer and inventor of the
pitot tube
, which measures flow velocity.
Beginning his career as a mathematician and astronomer, Pitot won election to the
Academy of Sciences
in 1724. He became interested in the problem of flow of water in rivers and
canals
and discovered that much
contemporary
theory was erroneous?for example, the idea that the velocity of flowing water increased with depth. He devised a tube, with an opening facing the flow, that provided a convenient and reasonably accurate
measurement
of flow velocity and that has found wide application ever since (e.g., in
anemometers
for measuring wind speed).
Appointed chief engineer for
Languedoc
, he performed a variety of maintenance and construction work on canals,
bridges
, and drainage projects. His major work was construction of an
aqueduct
for the city of
Montpellier
(1753?86), including a stone-arch Roman-type section one kilometre (more than one-half mile) in length.