| Issue |
Photoniques
Mars-Avril 2019
European Way of Photonics
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 18 - 22 | |
| Section | PORTRAIT | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/photon/2019S418 | |
| Published online | 1 mai 2019 | |
Famous optician: Augustin Fresnel and the wave theory of light
Honorary Professor, Physics Department, École polytechnique, Palaiseau, France
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Abstract
Augustin Fresnel was born in 1788, in the Normandy village of Broglie where his father was employed as an architect by the duc de Broglie. The author of the wave theory of light was thus born on lands that would later belong to Louis de Broglie, the author of the wave theory of matter, whose birth came a century later. Fresnel’s work was accomplished in less than a decade1.
A full and remarkable account of Fresnel’s discoveries, his central role, and the contributions of his colleagues is provided by J. Z. Buchwald in The Rise of the Wave Theory of Light, The University of Chicago Press, 1984; 498 pages.
© EDP Sciences, 2019
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