André-Gustave Citroën (French: [ɑ̃dʁe ɡystav sitʁɔɛn]; 5 February 1878 – 3 July 1935) was a French industrialist and founder of major automaker Citroën. He is also remembered for his application of double helical or herringbone gears.
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Life and career
Born in Paris in 1878, André-Gustave Citroen was the fifth and last child of his Jewish parents, diamond merchant Levie Citroen and Masza Amelia Kleinman. He was a cousin of the British philosopher Sir A. J. Ayer, the only son of his aunt Reine.
The Citroen family descended from a grandfather in the Netherlands who had been a greengrocer and seller of tropical fruit, and had taken the surname of Limoenman, Dutch for "lime man"; his son however changed it to Citroen (pronounced [siˈtrun] ), which in Dutch means "lemon". In 1873 the family moved to Paris; upon arrival, the French tréma was added to the surname (reputedly by one of André's teachers), changing Citroen to Citroën.
His father died by suicide when André was six years old, presumably after failure in a business venture in a diamond mine in South Africa. It is reputed that the young Citroën was inspired by the works of Jules Verne and had seen the construction of the Eiffel Tower for the World Exhibition, making him want to become an engineer. He graduated from the École Polytechnique in 1899.
During a trip to Poland, the birthplace of his mother who had recently died, around 1900, Citroën saw a local carpenter working on a set of gears with a distinctive fishbone structure. Finding them less noisy and more efficient, Citroën bought the patent for cheap and perfected it. The gears' pattern was reputed to inspire the double-chevron marque of the Citroën brand. In 1908, he was appointed a manager of the automotive company Mors.