The role of the Belgian engineer Paul Christophe on the development of reinforced concrete at the turn of the 20th century

Paul Christophe (1870-1957) owes his fame to being the author of the book Le béton armé et ses applications, published first in 1899 and again in 1902. This publication is considered internationally as one of the first treatises on reinforced concrete which included detailed explanations of the various computation models in use at the turn of the 20th century. He concluded by proposing rational modelling of reinforced concrete based mainly on the previous work of Coignet & de Tedesco. Until the present research, the professional life of Christophe and the context of his publication were unknown. The discovery of large parts of the family archives has allowed clarification of the role of Paul Christophe in the theoretical development of reinforced concrete. Therefore the paper proposes first to draw up the biography of Paul Christophe, secondly to expose the ins and outs of the publication Le béton armé et ses applications and finally to explore his relations with others precursors of reinforced concrete such as the Austrian engineer Fritz von Emperger (1862-1942).