Joseph Valentin Boussinesq (; 13 March 1842 – 19 February 1929) was a
French mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
and
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 ...
who made significant contributions to the theory of
hydrodynamics, vibration, light, and heat.
Biography
From 1872 to 1886, he was appointed professor at
Faculty of Sciences of Lille, lecturing differential and integral calculus at
Institut industriel du Nord
The Institut industriel du Nord (IDN) was the engineering school and research institute at École Centrale de Lille from 1872 to 1991, within the campus of the Lille University of Science and Technology (France).
History
École des arts indus ...
(
École centrale de Lille
Located in the campus of Science and Technology (Cité Scientifique) of the University of Lille in Villeneuve-d'Ascq ( European Metropolis of Lille - Hauts-de-France); École Centrale de Lille is a renowned graduate engineering school, with ro ...
). From 1896 to his retirement in 1918, he was professor of mechanics at
Faculty of Sciences of Paris.
John Scott Russell
John Scott Russell FRSE FRS FRSA (9 May 1808, Parkhead, Glasgow – 8 June 1882, Ventnor, Isle of Wight) was a Scottish civil engineer, naval architect and shipbuilder who built '' Great Eastern'' in collaboration with Isambard Kingdom Brune ...
experimentally observed
solitary waves in 1834 and reported it during the 1844 Meeting of the British Association for the advancement of science. Subsequently, this was developed into the modern physics of
solitons. In 1871, Boussinesq published the first mathematical theory to support Russell's experimental observation, and in 1877 introduced the
KdV equation. In 1876,
Lord Rayleigh
John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, (; 12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919) was an English mathematician and physicist who made extensive contributions to science. He spent all of his academic career at the University of Cambridge. Am ...
published his mathematical theory to support Russell's experimental observation. At the end of his paper,
Lord Rayleigh
John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, (; 12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919) was an English mathematician and physicist who made extensive contributions to science. He spent all of his academic career at the University of Cambridge. Am ...
admitted that Boussinesq's theory came before his.
In 1897, he published ''Théorie de l'écoulement tourbillonnant et tumultueux des liquides'' ("Theory of the swirling and agitated flow of liquids"), a work that greatly contributed to the study of turbulence and hydrodynamics.
The word "turbulence" was never used by Boussinesq. He used sentences such as "écoulement tourbillonnant et tumultueux". The first mention of the word "turbulence" in French or English scientific fluid mechanics literature (the word "turbulence" existed in other context) can be found in a paper by
Lord Kelvin
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, (26 June 182417 December 1907) was a British mathematician, mathematical physicist and engineer born in Belfast. Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow for 53 years, he did important ...
in 1887.
Books by Joseph Valentin Boussinesq
Théorie de l'écoulement tourbillonnant et tumultueux des liquides dans les lits rectilignes a grande section (vol.1)(Gauthier-Villars, 1897)
Cours d'analyse infinitésimale à l'usage des personnes qui étudient cette science en vue de ses applications mécaniques et physiques Tome 1, Fascicule 1(Gauthier-Villars et fils, 1887-1890)
Cours d'analyse infinitésimale à l'usage des personnes qui étudient cette science en vue de ses applications mécaniques et physiques Tome 1, Fascicule 2(Gauthier-Villars et fils, 1887-1890)
Cours d'analyse infinitésimale à l'usage des personnes qui étudient cette science en vue de ses applications mécaniques et physiques Tome 2, Fascicule 1(Gauthier-Villars et fils, 1887-1890)
Cours d'analyse infinitésimale à l'usage des personnes qui étudient cette science en vue de ses applications mécaniques et physiques Tome 2, Fascicule 2(Gauthier-Villars et fils, 1887-1890)
Théorie analytique de la chaleur Volume 1(Gauthier-Villars, 1901-1903)
Théorie analytique de la chaleur Volume 2(Gauthier-Villars, 1901-1903)
Leçons synthétiques de mécanique générale servant d'introduction au cours de mécanique physique de la Faculté des sciences de Paris (Gauthier-Villars, 1889)
Application des potentiels à l'étude de l'équilibre et du mouvement des solides élastiques(Gauthier-Villars, 1885)
See also
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Boussinesq approximation (buoyancy)
In fluid dynamics, the Boussinesq approximation (, named for Joseph Valentin Boussinesq) is used in the field of buoyancy-driven flow (also known as natural convection). It ignores density differences except where they appear in terms multiplied ...
for buoyancy-driven flows for small density differences in the fluid
*
Boussinesq approximation (water waves) for long waves propagating on the surface of a fluid layer under the action of gravity
*
Turbulence modeling
Turbulence modeling is the construction and use of a mathematical model to predict the effects of turbulence. Turbulent flows are commonplace in most real life scenarios, including the flow of blood through the cardiovascular system, the airflow o ...
and
eddy viscosity for the Boussinesq approximation resulting in the use of an eddy viscosity to model the turbulence
Reynolds stresses
In fluid dynamics, the Reynolds stress is the component of the total stress tensor in a fluid obtained from the averaging operation over the Navier–Stokes equations to account for turbulent fluctuations in fluid momentum.
Definition
The veloci ...
*
Boussinesq–Basset force for the history force on particles in an accelerating
Stokes flow
*
Basset–Boussinesq–Oseen equation
In fluid dynamics, the Basset–Boussinesq–Oseen equation (BBO equation) describes the motion of – and forces on – a small particle in unsteady flow at low Reynolds numbers. The equation is named after Joseph Valentin Boussinesq, Alfred Bar ...
(BBO equation) for the motion of – and forces on – a particle moving in an
unsteady flow at low
Reynolds numbers
*
Boussinesq–Cerruti solution
*
Clapotis
In hydrodynamics, a clapotis (from French for "lapping of water") is a non-breaking standing wave pattern, caused for example, by the reflection of a traveling surface wave train from a near vertical shoreline like a breakwater, seawall or steep ...
*
Flamant solution
The Flamant solution provides expressions for the stresses and displacements in a linear elastic wedge loaded by point forces at its sharp end. This solution was developed by A. Flamant in 1892 by modifying the three-dimensional solution of ...
*
Hagen–Poiseuille equation
In nonideal fluid dynamics, the Hagen–Poiseuille equation, also known as the Hagen–Poiseuille law, Poiseuille law or Poiseuille equation, is a physical law that gives the pressure drop in an incompressible and Newtonian fluid in laminar fl ...
*
Laboratoire de mécanique de Lille
Notes
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Boussinesq, Joseph Valentin
19th-century French mathematicians
19th-century French physicists
20th-century French mathematicians
20th-century French physicists
1842 births
1929 deaths
People from Hérault
Fluid dynamicists
Lille University of Science and Technology faculty
École centrale de Lille faculty
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
University of Montpellier alumni
Members of the Ligue de la patrie française
Officiers of the Légion d'honneur
University of Paris faculty
Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities