Augustin-Jean Fresnel

Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788-1827) was a french engineer, who discovered the concept of polarisation in light.

Biography
Fresnel worked as an engineer during the Napoleonic Wars of 1803 to 1815.

In 1816, Fresnel backed up the theory that light travels in waves through a series of precise experiments with diffraction. When Fresnel shone a light through tiny slits, he detected tiny fringes of light that could only be produced by interference between waves.

Working with French physicist François Arago, in 1817, Fresnel began to explore polarisation, which was then thought irreconcilable with wave theory. Fresnel found that beams of polarised light do not create interference fringes if they are polarised in different planes.

Fields of Physics

 * Electromagnetism