Claude Servais Mathias Pouillet (16 February 1790 – 14 June 1868) 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 cau ...
and a professor of physics at the
Sorbonne and member of the
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...
(elected 1837).
Biography
He studied sciences at the
École normale supérieure (Paris)
The – PSL (; also known as ENS, , Ulm or ENS Paris) is a ''grande école'' in Paris, France. It is one of the constituent members of Paris Sciences et Lettres University (PSL). Due to its selectivity, historical role, and influence within F ...
, and from 1829 to 1849 was associated with the
Conservatoire national des arts et métiers
The (; ; abbr. CNAM) is an AMBA-accredited French ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement''. It is a member of the '' Conférence des Grandes écoles'', which is an equivalent to the Ivy League schools in the United States, Oxbridge in th ...
, first as a professor, and beginning in 1832, an administrator. After the death of
Pierre Louis Dulong
Pierre Louis Dulong FRS FRSE (; ; 12 February 1785 – 19 July 1838) was a French physicist and chemist. He is remembered today largely for the law of Dulong and Petit, although he was much-lauded by his contemporaries for his studies into ...
in 1838, he attained the chair of
physics
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
at the Faculty of Sciences.
[Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers]
edited by Virginia Trimble, Thomas R. Williams, Katherine Bracher, Richard Jarrell, Jordan D. Marché, F. Jamil Ragep For a brief period of time, he was chair of physics at the
École Polytechnique
(, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande Ă©cole'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris.
The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...
(1831), where he was succeeded by
CĂ©sar Despretz in 1831 and
Gabriel Lamé
Gabriel Lamé (22 July 1795 – 1 May 1870) was a French mathematician who contributed to the theory of partial differential equations by the use of curvilinear coordinates, and the mathematical theory of elasticity (for which linear elasticity ...
in 1832.
In 1852, he was compulsorily retired from the Faculty of Sciences because he refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the
imperial government that took power in late 1851.
[
]
Scientific research
The Pouillet effect was named after the phenomenon that he published in 1822 on the heat produced by the wetting of dry sand.
He developed a pyrheliometer
A pyrheliometer is an instrument that can measure direct beam solar irradiance. Sunlight enters the instrument through a window and is directed onto a thermopile which converts heat to an electrical signal that can be recorded. The signal vol ...
and made, between 1837 and 1838, the first quantitative measurements of the solar constant
The solar constant (''GSC'') measures the amount of energy received by a given area one astronomical unit away from the Sun. More specifically, it is a flux density measuring mean solar electromagnetic radiation ( total solar irradiance) per un ...
. His estimate was 1228 W/m2, very close to the current estimate of 1367 W/m2. Using the Dulong-Petit law inappropriately, he estimated the temperature
Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer. It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making ...
of the Sun's surface to be around 1800 °C. This value was corrected in 1879 to 5430 °C by Jožef Stefan
Josef Stefan (; 24 March 1835 – 7 January 1893) was a Carinthian Slovene physicist, mathematician, and poet of the Austrian Empire.
Life and work
Stefan was born in the village of St. Peter (Slovene: ) on the outskirts of Klagenfurt) to Ale ...
(1835–1893).
He published works on optics
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of optical instruments, instruments that use or Photodetector, detect it. Optics usually describes t ...
, electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
, magnetism
Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that occur through a magnetic field, which allows objects to attract or repel each other. Because both electric currents and magnetic moments of elementary particles give rise to a magnetic field, ...
, meteorology
Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...
, photography
Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...
and photometry
Photometry can refer to:
* Photometry (optics), the science of measurement of visible light in terms of its perceived brightness to human vision
* Photometry (astronomy), the measurement of the flux or intensity of an astronomical object's electr ...
. In the field of optics he conducted investigations of diffraction phenomena. In his studies of electricity, he designed sine and tangent galvanometers.[ Pouillet developed and corrected ]Joseph Fourier
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier (; ; 21 March 1768 – 16 May 1830) was a French mathematician and physicist born in Auxerre, Burgundy and best known for initiating the investigation of Fourier series, which eventually developed into Fourier analys ...
's work on the surface temperature of the earth, developing the first real mathematical treatment of the greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect occurs when greenhouse gases in a planet's atmosphere insulate the planet from losing heat to space, raising its surface temperature. Surface heating can happen from an internal heat source (as in the case of Jupiter) or ...
. He speculated that water vapour and carbon dioxide might trap infrared radiation in the atmosphere, warming the earth enough to support plant and animal life.
Lehrbuch der Physik und Meteorologie
Svante Arrhenius
Svante August Arrhenius ( , ; 19 February 1859 – 2 October 1927) was a Swedish scientist. Originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, Arrhenius was one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry. In 1903, he received ...
(1896) cited a great deal of Pouillet's work.
Bibliography
*''Mémoire sur l'électricité des fluides élastiques et sur une des causes de l'électricité de l'atmosphère'' (1828)
*''Éléments de physique expérimentale et de météorologie'' (1827
*''Leçons de physique de la Faculté des sciences de Paris, recueillies et rédigées par M. Grosselin'', (22 mars 1828 au 29 juillet 1828) Volume II: magnétisme, électricité, galvanisme, électro-magnétisme, acoustique, optiqu
*''Mémoire sur la chaleur solaire, sur les pouvoirs rayonnants et absorbants de l'air atmosphérique et sur la température de l'espace'' (1838)
*''Notions générales de physique et de météorologie à l'usage de la jeunesse'' (1850)
*''Mémoire sur la densité de l'alcool; sur celle des mélanges alcooliques; sur un nouveau mode de graduation de l'aréomètre à degrés égaux'' (1859)
*''Mémoire sur la position des pôles dans l'intérieur des barreaux aimantés et sur la mesure absolue des forces magnétiques'' (1859)
See also
*Stefan–Boltzmann law
The Stefan–Boltzmann law, also known as ''Stefan's law'', describes the intensity of the thermal radiation emitted by matter in terms of that matter's temperature. It is named for Josef Stefan, who empirically derived the relationship, and Lu ...
* Tangent galvanometer
References
The measurement of the solar constant by Claude Pouillet''
, by J-L Dufresne
No. 60, pp. 36–43, Feb. 2008.
Most widely held works by Pouillet
OCLC WorldCat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pouillet, Claude Servais Mathias
1790 births
1868 deaths
19th-century French physicists
19th-century French inventors
Academic staff of the University of Paris
People from Doubs
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery