Augustin Jean Fresnel

Augustin Jean Fresnel (1788 - 1827) Photo: German Museum Munich

Augustin Jean Fresnel was born in Normandy in 1788. He found learning difficult and by the age of eight, he could read only with great difficulty. Despite this, he possessed great mathematical talent, whereupon he later became a student at the Paris polytechnic, where Jean Baptiste Biot and Etienne Louis Malus also studied.

He left with a degree in engineering, later working as a civil engineer. He worked for many years in multiple jobs in order to improve his financial situation. He derived his main income through his engineering roles, using his time off to work in physics. His main interests were in the fields of diffraction, polarization, double refraction (birefringence), and aberration. He took on positions in the Commission for Lighthouses and in the polytechnic. In 1824, his poor health lead to haemoptysis (blood cough), and finally to his passing away on July 14, 1827, in Ville-d'Avray.