Marcel Deprez was a French electrical engineer. He was born on December 12, 1843, in Aillant-sur-Milleron. He died on October 13, 1918, in Vincennes.

Biography

Deprez was born in Aillant-sur-Milleron, a rural area in France. He studied at the School of Mines in Paris but did not finish his course. However, he likely made a good impression, as he was hired as a secretary to the school’s director, Charles Combes.

From 1876 to 1886, Deprez worked in Creil, where he performed the first experiments to send electrical power over long distances. At the International Exposition of Electricity in Paris in 1881, he demonstrated an electricity distribution system that used direct current transmitted over long distances. The first successful test occurred in 1882 during the Exposition of Electricity in the Glaspalast in Munich. There, Deprez transmitted 1.5 kilowatts of power at 2 kilovolts over a distance of 35 miles.

Deprez conducted experiments in several locations, including La Chapelle, Grenoble, Vizille, Paris, and Creil. He eventually achieved the transmission of electricity over thirty-five miles for industrial use. In 1889, René Thury continued Deprez’s method of connecting generators in series. This led to the creation of commercial systems capable of delivering 20 megawatts of power at 125 kilovolts over 230 kilometers.