Émile Hilaire Amagat (2 January 1841,

Saint-Satur Saint-Satur () is a commune in the Cher department in central France. It is a medieval town near the river Loire in the former province of Berry. History Located in the area of Gaul settled by the powerful Celtic tribe, the Bituriges, or the " ...

– 15 February 1915) was a French

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

. His doctoral thesis, published in 1872, expanded on the work of Thomas Andrews, and included plots of the

isotherms A contour line (also isoline, isopleth, or isarithm) of a function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value, so that the curve joins points of equal value. It is a plane section of the three-dimensional grap ...

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

at high pressures. Amagat published a paper in 1877 that contradicted the current understanding at the time, concluding that the coefficient of compressibility of fluids decreased with increasing pressure. He continued to publish data on isotherms for a number of different gases between 1879 and 1882, and invented the hydraulic manometer, which was able to withstand up to 3200

atmospheres The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as Pa. It is sometimes used as a ''reference pressure'' or ''standard pressure''. It is approximately equal to Earth's average atmospheric pressure at sea level. History The s ...

, as opposed to 400 atmospheres using a glass apparatus. In 1880 he published his law of partial volumes (now known as Amagat's law). For his studies, he developed many original piezometer devices. His originality went so far as to use the depth of a mine shaft being drilled to reach high pressures of 430 atmospheres in order to study the equations of state of certain gases. His expertise led him to collaborate with the physicist

Peter Tait Peter Tait may refer to: * Peter Tait (physicist) (1831–1901), Scottish mathematical physicist * Peter Tait (footballer) (1936–1990), English professional footballer * Peter Tait (mayor) (1915–1996), New Zealand politician * Peter Tait (radio ...

in the development of a piezometer suitable for measuring the compressibility of liquids. Amagat was elected a member of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

on 9 June 1902. A unit of

number density The number density (symbol: ''n'' or ''ρ''N) is an intensive quantity used to describe the degree of concentration of countable objects (particles, molecules, phonons, cells, galaxies, etc.) in physical space: three-dimensional volumetric number ...

amagat An amagat is a practical unit of volumetric number density. Although it can be applied to any substance at any conditions, it is defined as the number of ideal gas molecules per unit volume at 1 atm (101.325 kPa) and 0 °C (273.15&n ...

, was named after him. He was elected a foreign member of the ''Royal Society of London'' in 1897. The French Academy of Sciences gave him the posthumous award of the Prix Jean Reynaud for 1915.

In film

* In 2016 Polish film ''

Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...

'', Amagat was played by Daniel Olbrychski.

References

External links

* 1841 births 1915 deaths People from Cher (department) Members of the Ligue de la patrie française Foreign Members of the Royal Society Honorary Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Members of the French Academy of Sciences {{France-physicist-stub