Samson Jordan
Samson Jordan (c1831-1900)
1900 Obituary [1]
SAMSON JORDAN died on February 24, 1900, at the age of sixty-nine. Born at Geneva on June 23, 1831, he entered the Ecole Centrale in 1851, and left with great distinction in 1854. For several months he was employed by the Northern Railway Company of France, and in 1855 he was entrusted with the erection of the Saint-Louis blast-furnace by the Societe de l'Eclairage au Gaz et des Hauts-Fourneaux de Marseille. On the completion of this work he became assistant-manager of the Company at Marseilles. In 1862 he was appointed consulting engineer to the Company and proceeded to Paris. In 1873 he became general manager, and remained director of the Company until his death.
In 1863 he was appointed lecturer in metallurgy at the Ecole Centrale, and in 1865 became Professor and Member of the Council of the School. He was also a director of the Denain and Anzin Works, and of the Compagnie Franco-Beige des Mines de Somorrostro. He was president of the Society of Civil Engineers of France in 1874. He had also been president of the Gas Institute of France, and at the time of his death was vice-president of the Comite des Forges of France. At various exhibitions he was called upon to fill important posts that showed the confidence inspired by his wide experience and clear views.
In 1878 he was vice-president of the International Jury; in 1889 he was president of the Jury of Class 48; and lastly, he was reporter of Class 64 at the Exhibition of 1900. He was a member of Council of the Societe d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie Nationale. Numerous high honours were bestowed upon him in appreciation of his great services to metallurgy. He was an. Officer of the Legion of Honour, Officer of Public Instruction, Commander of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, Knight of the Order of the Polar Star of Sweden, and Commander of the Order of Merit of St. James of Portugal. He was the author of numerous works on metallurgy, including the standard treatise on the subject, published in 1871. He also published an important work on spiegeleisen and its manufacture, which was introduced at Saint-Louis in 1864. The numerous monographs from his pen dealt with the manufacture of steel, with the calorific theory of the Bessemer process (1869), with the manufacture of cannons and projectiles, and with the roasting of iron ore at Bilbao.
He was elected a member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1874. He contributed papers to its proceedings in 1878 and in 1889, was a frequent contributor to the discussions of papers read, and was an energetic member of the Reception Committee on the occasions of the Paris meetings of the Institute in 1878 and in 1889. At Professor Jordan's funeral on February 28, eloquent speeches were delivered by Mr. C. Baudry in the name of the Society of Civil Engineers of France, by Mr. L. E. Deharme in the name of the Ecole Centrale, by Mr. H. Germain in the name of the Marseilles Company, by the Baron de Nervo in the name of the Comite des Forges, by Mr. A. Carnot in the name of the Societe d'Encouragement, by Mr. T. Vautier in the name of the Gas Institute, by Mr. C. Balsan in the name of the old students of the Ecole Centrale, and by Mr. L. Foray in the name of the graduates of 1854 of the Ecole Centrale. Eloquent testimony was thus afforded to the value of Professor Jordan's work and to the esteem in which he was held.