Jacques Triger

Jacques Triger (10 March 1801 – 16 December 1867) was a French geologist who invented the "Triger process" for digging through waterlogged ground using a pressurised caisson.

Triger was also deputy director of coal mining operations in Chalonnes-sur-Loire (Maine-et-Loire).

Biography Triger was born in Mamers, Sarthe, France, on 10 March 1801. He studied at La Flèche and then in Paris, where he met Louis Cordier in 1825. Cordier was an eminent French geologist, who taught Triger his first lessons in geology, where he quickly took interest in the technical challenges of this industrial sector. At 32 years old, together with skilled managers, Triger developed new industries in Sarthe and Mayenne. In this period, he developed and launched three coal mines, a paper mill and a sawmill.

In 1833, Triger was left by the woman he intended to marry. This plunged him deeply into his work: the production of gravel from dolomite rock, the construction of public fountains in Mamers and the detailed study of phreatic groundwater tables near Le Mans.

On 16 December 1867, Triger died from a heart attack after a meeting at the Geological Society of France, where he served for 35 years.