Pierre Bézier was born in 1910 into a family of engineers, in Paris, France. In keeping with his family's tradition, he graduated in mechanical engineering from the Ecole des Arts et Métiers in 1930. Then he graduated in electrical engineering from the Ecole Superieure d'Electricite in 1931. Finally, in 1977, he earned his DSc in mathematics from the University of Paris. In the intervening years, Bezier worked for the Renault company, holding a variety of leadership positions in design and production, retiring in 1975.
In his work, he was confronted with challenges to design interactive free-form three-dimensional curves and surfaces, along with the milling and manufacturing of such. This is presumably the background for his development of what are today called Bézier curves.
Bézier began his academic career in 1968 when he accepted a Professorship of Production Engineering at the Conservatoire National de Arts et Métiers, holding that position until 1979. He wrote several books and learned papers during this career, and he was awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa of the Technical University in Berlin. Bézier also was an honorary member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and of the Societe Belge des Mecaniciens (now the Belgian Society of Mechanical and Environmental Engineering), among other distinctions.
He died December 7, 1999. He is reliably reputed to have had a fine sense of humor, so he may forgive us for including this limerick in his honor.
Bezier invented some curves,
That he used to approximate swerves.
If you use them just right,
They'll fit very tight,
And save wear and tear on your nerves.