During the life of Charles Augustin Coulomb, he would play important roles in the developments in physics, engineering, and experimental instruments.  Coulomb was born in 1736 in the Languedoc region of France, but spent much of his early life in Paris and Montpellier.  In 1760, at the age of 24 he was accepted into Ecole du Genie, an army engineering school in France.  Once he was completed with school, he was first deployed to Brest as a military engineer.  In 1764 he was sent to Martinique in the West Indies.  There he was put in charge of building the new Fort Bourbon to attempt to make the island more secure.   While in the West Indies, Coulomb would demonstrate his engineering skills and technical knowledge which he would later recall in his memoirs.   

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