Fysici
Augustin
Fresnel (1788-1827) |
| Fresnel
was educated at the Ecole Polytechnique and was active in the Corps
des Ponts et Chaussées. He lost his engineering post temporarily
during Napoleon's return from Elba in 1814 and around this time he
did important work on optics where he was one of the founders of the
wave theory of light. By applying mathematical analysis to his work
Fresnel removed many of the objections to the wave theory of light.
With Arago he rediscovered interference of polarised light and gave
a theory of diffraction of light. He obtained circularly polarised
light and developed the use of compound lenses instead of mirrors
for lighthouses. © Article by: J J O'Connor and E F Robertson |
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