How to dispense with empiricism: The ‘Caquot formula’ and post-war drainage policy in France

Abstract

This article is devoted to the French engineer Albert Caquot (1881–1976), and his contribution to the design of storm water drainage systems contained in a publication dating from 1941. Although somewhat peripheral to his main work, Caquot's excursions into storm water drainage are nonetheless of great interest. They reflect an intellectual approach, which stemmed largely from 18th century French engineering tradition, and was still common among engineers of the pre-computer era. In the absence of powerful calculation tools, they attempted to appreciate and handle the complexity of the physical world using a few simple and easily applicable universal rules, which reduced the need for empirical data to a strict minimum. Reproduced (in a slightly altered version) by the French Government in the form of a ministerial circular, Caquot's contribution became practically the sole means of tackling storm drainage problems in France from 1950 to 1980. After dealing with Caquot and the State authorities’ efforts to find a ‘universal’ and easily applicable formula, the article analyses the effects of transforming Caquot's contribution, which is a piece of highly abstract engineering science, into a standard serving State policy, and pays particular attention to the contradictory nature of this standardization process.