Jean Morlet (; 13 January 1931 – 27 April 2007) was a French

geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...

who pioneered work in the field of

wavelet A wavelet is a wave-like oscillation with an amplitude that begins at zero, increases or decreases, and then returns to zero one or more times. Wavelets are termed a "brief oscillation". A taxonomy of wavelets has been established, based on the num ...

analysis around the year 1975. He invented the term ''wavelet'' to describe the functions he was using. In 1981, Morlet worked with Alex Grossmann to develop what is now known as the

Wavelet transform In mathematics, a wavelet series is a representation of a square-integrable (real number, real- or complex number, complex-valued) function (mathematics), function by a certain orthonormal series (mathematics), series generated by a wavelet. This ...

Biography

Morlet graduated from the

École Polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

in 1952 and was research engineer at

Elf Aquitaine Elf Aquitaine is a French brand of oils and other motor products (such as brake fluids) for automobiles and trucks. Elf is a former petroleum company which merged with TotalFina to form "TotalFinaElf". The new company changed its name to Total ...

when he invented wavelets to solve signal processing problems for oil prospecting.

Awards

He was awarded in 1997 with the Reginald Fessenden Award. He was awarded in 2001 with the first prize Prix Chéreau Lavet, from the Académie des Technologies.

Legacy

The Jean-Morlet Chair at the

Centre International de Rencontres Mathématiques The Centre International de Rencontres Mathématiques (CIRM) is a mathematics research institute associated with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Société Mathématique de France (SMF). It is located in Luminy, Marse ...

is named in his honor.

Notes

References

* 2007 deaths French geophysicists 1931 births Place of birth missing École Polytechnique alumni Applied mathematicians {{geophysics-stub