Bernard Forest de Belidor

Belidor, Bernard Forest de (bĕrnärˈ fôrĕˈ də bālēdôrˈ) [key], 1693–1761, French engineer. He wrote numerous books dealing with mathematics, artillery, and hydraulic, civil, and military engineering. One of his engineering works, a manual of rules and tables, was reprinted until 1830. His four-volume Architecture hydraulique (1737–53) was the first work of its kind to apply integral calculus to practical problems; its influence for the next hundred years was international in scope.