Félix Savart (; ; 30 June 1791, Mézières – 16 March 1841, Paris) 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

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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

who is primarily known for the

Biot–Savart law In physics, specifically electromagnetism, the Biot–Savart law ( or ) is an equation describing the magnetic field generated by a constant electric current. It relates the magnetic field to the magnitude, direction, length, and proximity of the ...

of electromagnetism, which he discovered together with his colleague

Jean-Baptiste Biot Jean-Baptiste Biot (; ; 21 April 1774 – 3 February 1862) was a French people, French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician who co-discovered the Biot–Savart law of magnetostatics with Félix Savart, established the reality of meteorites, ma ...

. His main interest was in

acoustics Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...

and the study of vibrating bodies. A particular interest in the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

led him to create an experimental trapezoidal model. He gave his name to the savart, a unit of measurement for musical intervals, and to Savart's wheel—a device he used while investigating the range of human hearing.

Biography

Savart was the son of Gérard Savart, an engineer at the military school of Metz. His brother, Nicolas, who was a student at the

École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' 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 ...

and an officer in the engineering corps, did work on vibration. At the military hospital at Metz, Savart studied medicine and later went on to the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...

, where he received his medical degree in 1816. Savart became a professor at Collège de France in 1820 and was the co-originator of the

, along with

. Together, they worked on the theory of

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, ...

and

electrical current 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 ...

s. Their law was developed and published in 1820.A joint Biot-Savart paper "Note sur le magnétisme de la pile de Volta" was published in the ''Annales de chemie et de physique'' in 1820. The Biot–Savart law relates magnetic fields to the currents which are their sources. Savart also studied

. He developed the Savart wheel which produces sound at specific graduated frequencies using rotating discs. Félix Savart is the namesake of a unit of measurement for musical intervals, the savart, though it was actually invented by Joseph Sauveur ( Stigler's law of eponymy).

Works

References

External links

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Logarithmic Interval Measures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Savart, Felix French physicists 1791 births 1841 deaths Foreign members of the Royal Society Members of the French Academy of Sciences Music psychologists People from Charleville-Mézières

Biography

Works

See also

References

External links