Antoine Alphonse Chassepot | |
Birth Name: | Antoine Alphonse Chassepot |
Birth Date: | 4 March 1833 |
Birth Place: | Mutzig, France |
Death Place: | Gagny |
Occupation: | inventor |
Antoine Alphonse Chassepot (1833–1905) was a French inventor and gunsmith. Born in 1833 in the town of Mutzig in Alsace, he is best known for inventing the breech-loading, center-fire needle gun rifle named after him: the Chassepot. Officially known as the Fusil modèle 1866, the rifle was adopted by the French army in 1866, for which Chassepot received the Cross of the Légion d'honneur and a gratuity of 30,000 francs.[1]