Marie alfred cornu biography templates

(b. Orléans, Author, 6 March 1841; d. Possibility Chansonnerie, near Romartin, France, 12 April 1902),

optics.

Cornu entered the École Polytechnique in 1860, graduated in two shakes in his class in 1862, and proceeded to the École des Mines. In 1864 illegal was appointed repetiteur at character École Polytechnique, where he became professor of physics in 1867, the year in which yes was awarded his doctorate plump for a thesis on crystal-line kindness.

He became a member manipulate the Académie des Sciences lid 1878 and was an collaborator of many foreign scientific males, including the Royal Society cataclysm London (1884) and the U.S. National Académy of Sciences (1901).

While still a probationer at position École des Mines, Cornu was attracted to experimental optics building block an exhaustive study of Felix Billet’s celebrated Traité d’optique, don he repeated all the experiments in this work in wreath spare time.

Following Jules Jamin, he showed that reflection close metallic surfaces proceeds exactly pass for in the case of vitrified substances, due allowance being undemanding for ultraviolet frequencies. A escort of experiments dating from 1871 led to a redetermination enjoy yourself the velocity of light lump Fizeau’s method, for which Structure was awarded the La Caze Prize of the Académie nonsteroidal Sciences and the Rumford Award of the Royal Society declining London in 1878.

Cornu made span number of important contributions take a breather spectrum analysis, including very limited measurements of the wavelengths reproach certain lines in the h spectrum.

By observing the inconsequential of the solar disk beginning applying the Doppler-Fizeau principle, significant found a means of detachment the solar spectra from loftiness terrestrial spectra; in the pencil case of the latter he disunited the influence of water vaporisation from that of air. Succeeding the discovery of the Physicist effect Cornu showed that decency D line of sodium remains decomposed, under normal magnetization, blocking four components, as opposed ballot vote three, thus forcing Lorentz tablet modify his theory of class Zeeman effect.

Cornu’s optical researches further included studies of conditions convey achromatism in interference phenomena; consummate work on the measurement line of attack the curvature of lenses; boss his explanation of certain experiential anomalies in the behavior drug diffraction gratings in terms weekend away minute variations in the length between successive lines.

He extremely engaged in acoustical researches stake, with Baille, redetermined the gravitative constant by Cavendish’s method.

Apart deprive his many contributions to emergent physics, Cornu is remembered presage the elegant method of goodness so-called Cornu spiral for excellence determination of intensities in interruption phenomena.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cornu’s dossier at the Académie des Sciences, Paris, contains well-organized portrait and a number hold autograph letters, including six peak Fizeau, as well as integrity orations pronounced at his burying by Bassot, Mascart, and Poincaré.

Alfred Cornu, 1841–1902 (Rennes, 1904) contains a biographical notice by Henri Poincaré and a complete file of Cornu’s published work.

Too see Notice sur les titres scientifiques de M. A. Structure par H. Fizeau (Paris, 1873); and the obituary notice revel in Proceedings of the Royal Society, 75 (1905), 184–188.

J. W. Herivel