Maurice Marie Alfred Couette (9 January 1858,

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

– 18 August 1943,

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

) 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 ...

known for his studies of fluidity. Couette is best known for his contributions to

rheology Rheology (; ) is the study of the flow of matter, primarily in a fluid (liquid or gas) state, but also as "soft solids" or solids under conditions in which they respond with Plasticity (physics), plastic flow rather than deforming Elasticity (phy ...

and the theory of fluid flow. He designed a concentric cylinder

viscometer A viscometer (also called viscosimeter) is an instrument used to measure the viscosity of a fluid. For liquids with viscosities which vary with flow conditions, an instrument called a rheometer is used. Thus, a rheometer can be considered as a spe ...

that he used to accurately measure the

viscosity The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance to deformation at a given rate. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of "thickness": for example, syrup has a higher viscosity than water. Viscosity quantifies the inte ...

of fluids. The laminar flow observed in the gap between the two cylinders is known as

Couette flow In fluid dynamics, Couette flow is the flow of a viscous fluid in the space between two surfaces, one of which is moving tangentially relative to the other. The relative motion of the surfaces imposes a shear stress on the fluid and induces flow ...

. He studied the boundary conditions of a fluid and showed that the "no slip" condition was satisfied for the fluids and wall materials tested.

Early life and career

Couette was born in

, France, as the only child of Alfred Ernest Couette, a cloth merchant. Finishing his education with the Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes he obtained a baccalauréat in humanities and in science, both in 1874, as well as

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

s in mathematics and physical science (delivered by the Faculté de Science in Poitiers) in 1877 and 1879 respectively. Following a short spell as a lecturer in Angers, he joined the 12th Artillery Regiment at

Vincennes Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attache ...

for one year of voluntary military service. In 1881 he settled in Paris and enrolled in the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, studying physical science in preparation for the agrégation, a French teaching diploma. Couette later taught in

Arcueil Arcueil () is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Name The name Arcueil was recorded for the first time in 1119 as ''Arcoloï'', and later in the 12th ...

and the École Sainte-Geneviève in Paris. At the

he studied under

Joseph Boussinesq Joseph Valentin Boussinesq (; 13 March 1842 – 19 February 1929) was a French mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to the theory of hydrodynamics, vibration, light, and heat. Biography From 1872 to 1886, he was appoi ...

and from 1887 onwards worked at the Physics Research Laboratory under

Gabriel Lippmann Jonas Ferdinand Gabriel Lippmann (16 August 1845 – 13 July 1921) was a Franco-Luxembourgish physicist and inventor, and Nobel laureate in physics for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference. ...

( who would later receive the

Nobel Prize in Physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...

). Couette also took his doctoral degree on the friction of liquids ("Studies on the Friction of Liquids", ''Etude sur le frottement des liquides'', Gauthiers-Villars 1890). Soon afterwards he was given a professorship of physics at the Catholic University of Angers (now known as

Université Catholique de l'Ouest The Catholic University of the West (UCO; French: Université catholique de l'Ouest), known colloquially to its students as «''la Catho''», is a university located in Angers, France. History Early in the 11th century this school became famou ...

) as well as other teaching commitments such as at the Free Faculty of Science, the School of Agriculture and several secondary schools in Angers. Couette was a member of the French Physics Society and retired in 1933.

Accolades

Since 1993, the Prix Maurice Couette is awarded by the Groupe français de Rhéologie.

Personal life

In 1886, Maurice Couette married Jeanne Jenny, who gave birth to eight children, five of whom reached adulthood.

External links

The GFR's Maurice Couette PrizeInformation on the Maurice Couette Award (French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Couette, Maurice Marie Alfred French physicists Rheologists University of Paris alumni Catholic University of the West faculty French Roman Catholics 1858 births 1943 deaths Fluid dynamicists Scientists from Tours, France