This Day in History: May 3, 1695

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by Simonov

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This Day in History

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On May 3, 1695, French hydraulic engineer and inventor Henri Pitot is born in the commune of Aramon, France. Among Pitot's inventions was device which measures fluid flow velocity. His invention, the pitot tube, is currently used to measure the water speed of ships and boats and the air speed of aircraft. It is also used to measure flow velocities in situations where the use of an anemometer would be difficult or impractical, such as measuring the volume of air flowing to a conditioned space, and in a modified form as pitot tube static anemometer in areas which experience high wind speeds.

Henri Pitot also designed and constructed the aqueduct in Montpellier, France. His interest in and work with the flow of water led to corrections on many misunderstanding regarding the subject at the time, eventually resulting in Pitot becoming a member of the French Academy of Sciences. Pitot would pass away on December 27, 1771, at the age of 76.

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