His sister, Maria del Carmen Betancourt y Molina, was the first known woman in Tenerife to publish a scientific article (also related to textile dyes).

[2][3][4] In 1778, Augustin moved to Madrid to study engineering at the San Isidro Royal College, and never returned to Tenerife again.

Back in Paris, he wrote a treatise on steam engines and designed a steam-powered pump and a mechanical loom, also sending a collection of machinery to Madrid.

In 1792, Betancourt was appointed the Director of the Royal Cabinet of Machinery, and catalogued hundreds of its exhibits scouted in France, England and the Netherlands.

In 1783 he was involved in launching Spain's first hot-air balloon (the scene can be seen in a picture by A. Carnicero in the Prado national museum).

Soon after the establishment in 1794 of the École Polytechnique in Paris, Gaspard Monge had proposed a class on the analysis of mechanisms and described the subject to fellow teachers.

Another student was José María Lanz, whose lecture notes were revised and published together with Betancourt as Essai sur la composition des machines (1808; 2nd ed.

Betancourt was recruited into Russian service by Ivan Muravyov-Apostol (Ambassador to Spain until 1806) and left France for Saint Petersburg in 1808.

His first extant work is the famous fountain in Tsarskoye Selo (1810), with sculpture by Pavel Sokolov immortalized by Alexander Pushkin's poetry.

Betancourt designed other buildings for Nizhny, including the city jail, three brick foundries, and helped in preservation of two ancient churches.

After the French invasion of Russia (1812), Russian monetary system was ruined by war expenditure and a flood of counterfeit bills.

Dmitry Guriev, Minister of Finance, assigned Betancourt to set up a modern currency printing facility.

Betancourt is credited with design of Russia's first modern highway between Saint Petersburg and Moscow, as well as numerous industrial projects like Tula and Kazan armouries.

In 1822, Betancourt fell into disfavor at the court, and lost his chair as the Director of Communications, but retained other state jobs.

His tomb, a 6.85-meter cast-iron column, was designed and made by Auguste de Montferrand and paid for by Nizhny Novgorod merchant society.