In the latter half of the 19th century, Gustave Pierre Trouvé, a modest but brilliant Parisian electrical engineer, conceived and patented some 75 inventions, including the endoscope, the electric car and the frontal headlamp. He also designed an electric boat—complete with outboard motor, headlight and horn—an electric rifle, an electric piano and luminous fountains, and developed wearable technology and ultraviolet light therapy.
Unlike his famous contemporary Nikola Tesla, who worked for Thomas Edison and was patronized by George Westinghouse, Trouvé never came to America. A confirmed bachelor disinterested in industrialization, he was gradually forgotten following his accidental death in 1902. This expanded edition of the 2012 French first-ever biography of Trouvé details the fascinating life of the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor once dubbed “the French Edison.”

Kevin Desmond, a technology historian and biographer, lives near Bordeaux in southern France. Since 1976, he has published 33 books and 300-plus articles on the men and women innovators, often forgotten, behind the progress of transport and related subjects.

Kevin Desmond
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 228
Bibliographic Info: 89 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2015
pISBN: 978-0-7864-9709-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1968-2
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments ix
Foreword by John Devitt 1
Preface 3
One • A Boy from the Touraine 7
Two • Paris! 14
Three • From a Workshop in the Rue Vivienne 43
Four • A Point of Light 69
Five • Lamps Without Danger 91
Six • Luminous Fountains and Mechanical Birds 119
Seven • Healing with Light 136
Eight • An Alternative Light Source 153
Nine • Rehabilitating Trouvé 174
Appendix I: Trouvé’s 75 Inventions and Innovations 183
Appendix II: Trouvé in the ­Twenty-First Century 185
Chapter Notes 197
Bibliography 203
Index 205

• “Highly recommended”—Midwest Book Review
• “Brilliant”—Classic Boat