Philippe Jean Bunau-Varilla (1859-1940) was a French engineer and soldier. He influenced the United States decision to build a waterway through Panama and encouraged Panama's successful revolution against Colombia.

Philippe Bunau-Varilla, born in Paris on July 26, 1859, graduated from the École Polytechnique in 1880 and 3 years later left the École des Ponts et Chaussées. After serving a year as an engineer in the French department of public works, he went to Panama to head one of the three divisions of Ferdinand de Lesseps' Panama Canal Company. By the age of 26, Bunau-Varilla had temporarily assumed general management of the company.

When, amid charges of fraud, Lesseps' company went bankrupt in 1888, Bunau-Varilla, working to revitalize French interest, zealously defended the canal idea. He also, unsuccessfully, attempted to gain Russian support. Meanwhile there developed in France the New Panama Company, in which Bunau-Varilla purchased stock. Eventually abandoning hopes of...