Armand de Gramont

Antoine Auguste Agénor Armand de Gramont , duke of Guiche then 12th duke of Gramont (1925) is an industrialist and a French scientist born the September 29th 1879 and dead the August 2nd 1962.

Wire of Agénor de Gramont and his second wife, Marguerite de Rothschild, small son of the Foreign Minister Agénor de Gramont, he is the half-brother of Elisabeth of Clermont-Thunder, known as “the red duchess”. The scientist and academician Arnaud de Gramont are the cousin of his father.

July 14th 1904, to the Castle of Vallière, it becomes engaged to Élaine Greffulhe (1882 - 1958), girl of the count Henry Greffulhe and the countess, famous to have been a model of Marcel Proust in With the research of time lost . It was itself friendly of Proust which undoubtedly met it at the end of December 1902 at the time of a dinner at Noailles: Armand de Gramont, will write it in his pastiche of Saint-Simon, “ pointed out the graces of this gallant count de Guiche, who had been so initiated in the beginnings of the reign of Louis XIV. He dominated over all the other dukes, was this only by its infinite knowledge and its admirable discovered. ” And he adds that he had admirable eyes “ with a glance which, although nobody liked as much as him to divert himself, seemed to bore through its pupil, as soon as its spirit was tended to some serious object. ” Marcel Proust attended the lunch of engagement which made it extremely unhappy because it was the only one to wear come there a dress.

The marriage took place in the church of the Madeleine in Paris on November 14th 1904. This union was not very harmonious: Élaine Greffulhe is tedious and dull, and it will be irremediably misled by a husband who adores the women. They had nevertheless five children:

Antoine Agénor Henri Armand (1907 - 1995);
Henri Armand Antoine (1909 - 1994);
Jean Armand Antoine (1909 - 1984);
Charles Louis Antoine Armand (1911 - 1976);
Corisande Marguerite Elisabeth (1920 - 1980).

Amateur of painting, Armand de Gramont had dreamed to become painter and exposed in 1904 a table with the Salon of the French Artists. Its family had pushed it towards more serious studies and it had obtained a science degree in 1902. In 1908, on the councils of the professor Carlo Bourlet, it establishes a laboratory for experiments of aerodynamics, in the garden of an old people's home rested by his parents-in-law with Levallois. In 1911, it supports with the Faculty of Science of Paris its thesis for the science doctorate entitled " Test of aerodynamics of the plan" , permière thesis devoted in France on this subject. It obtains then the Prix Fourneyron of the Academy of Science with Gustave Eiffel. During the First World War, Armand de Gramont is first of all motorist interprets with the English army then aviator with the technical Section of aeronautics where it meets the scientist Henri Chrétien. In March 1916, the Service of manufacture of the aviation of the ministry for the War requires of Gramont to transform its laboratory of aerodynamics into workshop of optical apparatuses, in particular of collimators of aiming. It observes the insufficiency of the equipment of the French Army out of optical instruments of precision and the absence of engineers able to develop them. It then takes the head of a committee in favor of the creation of a " institute of optics appliquée" responsible for the formation of a body of engineer-opticians. If the decision of principle were made by the Government as of 1916, the Institute of optics theoretical and applied (SupOptique), that it chaired until its death, began its activities only in 1920. His/her Corisande daughter was student in engineering there.

As an industrialist, with the ambition to compete with the German productions, it founds in 1919 and directs the company OPL, “Optics and Precision of Levallois”, which takes the continuation of the workshop of optical apparatuses. Its seat is installed at the same place, 86 rue Chaptal with Levallois-Perret. The army was its main customers until the Second world war. In 1938, Armand de Gramont, wanting to diversify the productions of OPL towards the civil world, made build a factory with Châteaudun. The company then produced famous cameras under the mark FOCA. In 1964, OPL amalgamated with the Company of optics and precision mechanics (SOM-Berthiot) to form the Company of Optics, electronic Précision and Mechanics (SOPELEM), which worked in the military field. The SOPELEM became in 1992 SOPELEM/SOFRETEC then SFIM/ODS and was repurchased in 2000 by the SAGEM.

Distinctions

He was large officer of the Légion of honor. Elected with the Academy of Science on February 9th 1931 (Armand de Gramont 32 votes, Louis Martin 29 votes), succeeding Achilles Beautiful the, he was the president the year 1956. He was also president of the French company of physics, honorary president of the French company of photography (1938-1946), succeeding Charles Fabry, president of the scientific Commission of the Aéro-Club of France, president of the Institute of optics theoretical and applied (SupOptique).

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