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Germain Sommeiller
was born in Saint-Jeoire-en Faucigny (Bonneville, Haute Savoie) on 15th February 1815, and here he died on 11th July 1871, few months after the inauguration of the Mont Cenis tunnel. He attended the University of Turin where he graduated in Engineering in 1841. He became Royal Civil Engineer in the Public Transport Department in 1845. In the years 1846-1850 he attended an educational stage at the Cockerill Society where he met Sebastiano Grandis. He was assistant of the Belgian engineer Henry-Joseph Maus, director of the Turin-Genoa railway. Sommeiller, who stand out for his technical skills, was the Chief of the design and the Director of the works for the Mont Cenis tunnel (12 km) between Bardonecchia (Italy) and Modane (France). His collaborators were the engineers
Sebastiano Grandis and
Severino Grattoni. He invented and patented the pneumatic rock-drilling machine, used in the tunnelling works. In 1860, when the Savoy was annexed to France he made the choice for the Italian citizenship and subsequently he was elected as deputy in the Parliament.
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