Giorgio Bidone

Giovanni Giorgio Bidone (19 January 1781, Casalnoceto, Piedmont – 25 August 1839, Turin, Kingdom of Sardinia) was an Italian engineer, mathematician and an experimenter in the field of hydraulics.

His plans to become a priest were abandoned because of new laws introduced by the French after Piedmont was annexed by Napoleon Bonaparte.

He performed experiments in the field of hydraulics at a laboratory at Parella, which had been established in 1763 by Francesco Domenico Michelotti.

In his study of overflow he measured the upstream increase in height and the shape caused by an obstruction and then derived the equations for describing this effect.

In 1817, together with Ignazio Michelotti, who was supervisor of rivers and chief inspector of canals, he drafted the new laws concerning the waterways of the kingdom.