What Frenchman helped build the Suez and Panama canals?

Answer 1

The French diplomat Ferdinand Marie Vicomte de Lesseps (November 19, 1805–December 7, 1894) was the man behind the construction of the Suez Canal.
However, his attempt to repeat this success during the 1880's with an effort to build a lockless version of the Panama Canal failed.

Answer 2

In 1854 and 1856 Ferdinand de Lesseps obtained concessions from Said Pasha, the viceroy of Egypt, whom de Lesseps had, as a French diplomat, come to know in the 1830s. Said Pasha authorized the creation of a company for the purpose of constructing a maritime canal open to ships of all nations according to plans created by Austrian engineer Alois Negrelli. By way of a lease of the relevant land, the company was to operate the canal for 99 years from its opening to navigation. The Suez Canal Company (Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez) came into being on December 15, 1858.

The excavation operations took nearly eleven years to accomplish, mostly through the forced labor of poor Egyptians.

in 1878, on obtaining a concession from the Columbian government to build the Panama Canal, he embarked upon a new and high-risk venture.

Geographical and financial difficulties along with the opposition of the United States brought about the failure of the project, ending in a serious political and financial scandal (1888-1892). Ferdinand, sentenced to five years in prison in 1893, died the following year, ten years before the Panama Canal was opened under the aegis of the United States.