Invention Timeline – Ferdinand de Lesseps, French Engineer; Built the Suez Canal
b. November 19, 1805 and d. December 8, 1894
French engineer of the Suez Canal, which was inaugurated November 17, 1869. The canal for steamboats of light draught was opened on August 15, 1865. Since 1873 he concentrated his energy on the Pamana Canal. The scandal attending the exposure of the Pamana Canal mismanagement is supposed to have hastened his death.
Where the demands for competent ability are so
pressing and the temptations to employ that ability
in such occupations as bring them instant rewards
are so great, it is quite certain that but few will be
found inclined to spend their lives in studies which
have no interest for others, and no perceptible bearing
on private or public good.
1847, July 8—The canal from Durana to Marseilles was completed.
1854—The Ganges Canal in India was opened.
1859—The construction of the Suez Canal was begun.
1861—The canal of Languedoc (Canal du Midi), connecting the Atlantic with the Mediterranean, 148 miles long, was completed.
1864—The Suez Canal was completed.
1865—A canal was dug connecting Amsterdam with the North Sea. (1876, November 1, opened.)
1869, November 23—The Suez Canal was formally opened to the commerce of the world in the presence of the Emperor of Austria, the Empress of France and the Khedive of Egypt.
