Joseph Fourier

Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier (21 March 1768 – 16 May 1830) was a French mathematician and physicist born in Auxerre, Burgundy. He is best known for initiating the investigation of Fourier series, which eventually developed into Fourier analysis and harmonic analysis, and their applications to problems of heat transfer and vibrations. The Fourier transform and Fourier's law of conduction are also named in his honour. Fourier is also generally credited with the discovery of the greenhouse effect. Fourier was orphaned at nine and educated by the Benedictine Order. He took a prominent part in the French Revolution and was briefly imprisoned during the Terror. He later served as a professor at the École Normale and École Polytechnique. Fourier accompanied Napoleon on his Egyptian expedition in 1798 as a scientific advisor and was appointed secretary of the Institut d'Égypte. After returning to France, Napoleon appointed him Prefect of the Department of Isère in Grenoble. While there, he began experimenting on heat propagation. In 1822, Fourier succeeded Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre as Permanent Secretary of the French Academy of Sciences. He died in 1830 from an aneurysm of the heart.