Historical Figures Codexery

Augustin-Jean Fresnel

French civil engineer and physicist who pioneered the wave theory of light and invented the Fresnel lens.

His optical research led to widespread acceptance of the wave theory of light, supplanting Newton's corpuscular theory from the late 1830s onward.[1] He gave the first satisfactory wave-based explanation of diffraction and explained polarization by supposing light waves are purely transverse.[1] Augustin-Jean Fresnel, a civil engineer and physicist, was born on 10 May 1788 in Broglie, Normandy.[2]

Quick Facts

Born
10 May 1788
Birthplace
Broglie, Normandy, France
Died
14 July 1827
Place of death
Ville-d'Avray, Île-de-France, France
Resting place
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Relatives
  • Fulgence Fresnel (brother)
  • Léonor Mérimée (uncle)
  • Prosper Mérimée (cousin)
Fields
Physics, engineering
Workplaces
Corps des Ponts, Athénée (1819–1820), École Polytech (1821–1824)

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Fresnel was the second of four sons of architect Jacques Fresnel and his wife Augustine.[2] The family moved to Cherbourg in 1789/90 and to Mathieu in 1794.[2] He was initially home-schooled by his mother and sent to the École Centrale at Caen in 1801.[3][4] In late 1804 he entered the École Polytechnique, graduating in 1806, then enrolled at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, graduating in 1809.[4]

By August 1819 he recommended lentilles à échelons to replace reflectors.[5] In May 1824 he became secretary of the Commission des Phares.[6] For his entire career, Fresnel was employed, directly or indirectly, by the Corps des Ponts.[7] After being suspended during the Hundred Days, Fresnel was permitted to stay at his mother's home in Mathieu, where he started his optical experiments during his time off.[8]

Fresnel was assigned on a temporary basis to the Commission des Phares on 21 June 1819 to evaluate potential improvements in lighthouse lighting.[9] The very first Fresnel lens used in a lighthouse was illuminated on 25 July 1823.[10]

What the cited sources add

The Mathpages account notes that in 1818 Fresnel inferred the extra factor of 1 − 1/n², called the Fresnel drag coefficient, to account for Arago's observations of stellar aberration.[11] The ratio of the observed fringe shift to the predicted shift for complete convection was 0.434 ± 0.02, consistent with Fresnel's value of 0.437.[11]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Augustin-Jean Fresnel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Darrigol 2012, p. 220–223 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Augustin-Jean Fresnel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: says "in 1790". Silliman (1967, p. 7) says "by 1790". says the family left Broglie in 1789.; Silliman 2008, p. 166; Boutry 1948, p. 590 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Augustin-Jean Fresnel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Levitt 2013, p. 99; Buchwald 1989, p. 111; That age was given by Arago in his elegy (Arago, 1857, p. 402) and widely propagated (Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911; ; ; etc.). But the reprint of the eleg; Levitt 2013, p. 99; Arago, 1857, p. 402.; Boutry 1948, p. 590 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Augustin-Jean Fresnel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Levitt 2013, p. 99; Silliman 1967, p. 9–11; Boutry 1948, p. 590; Silliman 1967, p. 9–11; Arago, 1857, p. 403. Fresnel's solution was printed in the Correspondance sur l'École polytechnique, No. 4 (June–July 1805), pp. 78–80, and repri (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Augustin-Jean Fresnel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fresnel, 1866–70, vol. 3, pp. 5–14; on the date, see p. 6n.; Levitt 2013, p. 99 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Augustin-Jean Fresnel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Levitt 2013, p. 99; Elton 2009, p. 195 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Augustin-Jean Fresnel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Levitt 2013, p. 99; Silliman 2008, p. 166; Boutry 1948, p. 590 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Augustin-Jean Fresnel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Levitt 2013, p. 99; Boutry 1948, p. 590; Arago, 1857, pp. 405–406; Kipnis, 1991, p. 167. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Augustin-Jean Fresnel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Levitt 2013, p. 99; Fresnel, 1866–70, vol. 1, p. xcvii, and vol. 3, p. xxiv. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Augustin-Jean Fresnel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Elton 2009, p. 195; Levitt 2013, p. 99 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. "Fresnel's Drag Coefficient and Dispersion", Mathpages. facts only, no text reused. mathpages.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Augustin-Jean Fresnel (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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