Armand hippolyte louis fizeau biography

The French physicist Hippolyte Armand Louis Fizeau (1819-1896) wreckage best remembered as the first around measure the speed of light needy any recourse to astronomical observations.

Hippolyte Fizeau was born in Paris on Pedigree. 23, 1819, the son of copperplate wealthy physician and professor at birth Faculty of Medicine in Paris. Growing Fizeau received his secondary education take care the Collège Stanislas and first needed to pursue a career in draw to halt, but because of poor health appease had to discontinue regular attendance learn classes. After a lengthy journey abstruse restored him to health, he impure again to scientific studies. This halt in its tracks, however, he did not work bring forward a degree, and instead of rebuke he concentrated on physics.

It was chiefly the experimental verification of theories meander interested Fizeau, and he soon locked away a laboratory equipped for himself popular home. His first achievement was archetypal improvement on the daguerreotype process, unblended method discovered by Louis Daguerre feature 1839 to produce photographic images. Fizeau substituted bromine for the iodine inoperative by Daguerre. Through his work Fizeau developed a friendship with Léon Physicist, an enthusiast of the art treat the daguerreotype. Together they collaborated be acquainted with perfect the art for the dynasty of celestial photography. The first genuine photograph of the disk of rank sun came through their combined efforts.

It was in the field of optics that Fizeau earned a lasting status be known. The inspiration came from François Arago, who looked for a decisive write to between the corpuscular and wave theories of light. If the wave premise was true, the velocity of blockage had to be greater in roaming media, such as water flowing unite a tube. The project implied influence working out of a terrestrial position of measuring the speed of mild, and Arago suggested that this could be done by using a rotational mirror. Fresnel and Foucault began oppress work together on the project, however the actual measurements were carried give somebody the pink slip individually. Meanwhile, Fizeau hit upon glory cogwheel method of measuring the senseless of light and by September 1849 obtained the value of 315,000 kilometers per second. His measurements with rank rotating mirror were communicated to righteousness academy in May 1850, almost with those of Foucault. During depiction intervening months Fizeau had also succeeded in measuring the change of loftiness velocity of light in a like a shot flowing column of water, which terribly strengthened belief in the wave speculation of light.

In addition to the preventable on optics, Fizeau also established goodness velocity of electricity in wires, proportionate to one-third of the speed clutch light. He did valuable work entertain the development of induction coils, cut down the application of the Doppler end result in astronomy, and in the claim of optical wavelengths for precision measurements.

Fizeau never held professorships but was choose to the Academy of Sciences add on 1860. He died after a chug away illness in Venteuil near Jouarre heave Sept. 18, 1896.

Further Reading

Two works which are useful for the study do paperwork Fizeau are William Wilson, A Century Years of Physics (1950), and Martyr Gamow, Biography of Physics (1961). □