| Jean-Baptiste Biot | |
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 Jean-Baptiste Biot
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| Born | 21 April 1774 Paris |
| Died | 3 February 1862 Paris |
| Nationality | French |
| Fields | Physics, astronomy, and mathematics |
| Known for | Biot-Savart law |
| Influenced | Louis Pasteur, William Ritchie |
Jean-Baptiste Biot (21 April 1774 – 3 February 1862) was a French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician who established the reality of meteorites, made an early balloon flight, and studied the polarization of light.
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Jean-Baptiste Biot was born in Paris, France on April 21, 1774 and died in Paris on February 3, 1862. He had one son, Edouard Constant Biot, in 1803. Biot served in the artillery before he was appointed professor of mathematics at Beauvais in 1797. He later went on to become a professor of physics at the Collège de France around 1800, and three years later was elected as a member of the Academy of Sciences. In 1804 Biot was on board for the first scientific hot-air balloon ride with Gay-Lussac (NNDB 2009, O’Connor and Robertson 1997). Biot was also a member of the Legion of Honor; he was elected chevalier in 1814 and commander in 1849. In 1816, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In addition, Biot received the Rumford Medal [link], awarded by the Royal Society in the field of thermal or optic properties of matter, in 1840 (O’Connor and Robertson 1997).
Jean-Baptiste Biot made many contributions to the scientific community in his lifetime, changing the paradigm of physics, as Thomas Kuhn would say. These include optics, magnetism, and astronomy. The Biot-Savart Law in magnetism is named after Biot and his colleague Felix Savart for their work in 1820. In their experiment they showed a connection between electricity and magnetism by "starting with a long vertical wire and a magnetic needle some horizontal distance apart [and showing] that running a current through the wire caused the needle to move" (Parsley). In 1803 Biot was sent by the French Academy to report back on 3000 meteorites that fell on L’Aigle, France (Meteorite). He found that the meteorites, or stones at the time, were from outer space. With his report, Biot helped support Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni's argument that meteorites were debris from space, which he had published in 1794. Biot also helped further the field of optics in 1815 with a study in polarized light. In his experiment Biot studied the effects of polarized light as it penetrated organic substances and determined that light "could be rotated clockwise or counterclockwise, dependent upon the optical axis of the material" (Molecular).
Prior to Biot's thorough investigation of the meteorites that fell near l’Aigle, France in 1803, very few truly believed that rocks found on Earth could have extraterrestrial origins. There were anecdotal tales of unusual rocks found on the ground after fireballs had been seen in the sky, but such stories were often dismissed as fantasy. Serious debate concerning the unusual rocks began in 1794 when German physicist Chladni published a book claiming that rocks had an extraterrestrial origin (Westrum). Only after Biot was able to analyze the rocks at l’Aigle was it commonly accepted that the fireballs seen in the sky were meteors falling through the atmosphere. Since Biot's time, analysis of meteorites has resulted in accurate measurements of the chemical composition of the solar system. The composition and position of meteors in the solar system have also given astronomers clues as to how the solar system formed.
In 1812, Biot turned his attention to the study of optics, particularly the polarization of light. Prior to the 19th century, light was believed to consist of discrete packets called corpuscles. During the early 19th century, many scientists began to disregard the corpuscular theory in favor of the wave theory of light. Biot began his work on polarization to show that the results he was obtaining could only happen if light were made of corpuscles. His work in chromatic polarization and rotary polarization greatly advanced the field of optics, although it was later shown that his findings could also be obtained using the wave theory of light (Frankel). Biot's work on the polarization of light has led to significant breakthroughs in the field of optics. Liquid crystal displays (LCDs), such as television and computer screens, use light that is polarized by a filter as it enters the liquid crystal to provide a clearer picture. Polarizing filters are used extensively in photography to cut out unwanted reflections or to enhance reflection.
| Preceded by Charles Lacretelle Jeune |
Seat 12 Académie française 1856–1862 |
Succeeded by Louis de Carné |
JEAN BAPTISTE BIOT (1774-1862), French physicist, was born at Paris on the 21st of April 1774. After serving for a short time in the artillery, he was appointed in 1797 professor of mathematics at Beauvais, and in 1800 he became professor of physics at the College de France, through the influence of Laplace, from whom he had sought and obtained the favour of reading the proof sheets of the Mecanique celeste. Three years later, at an unusually early age, he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences, and in 1804 he accompanied Gay Lussac on the first balloon ascent undertaken for scientific purposes. In 1806 he was associated with F. J. D. Arago, with whom he had already carried out investigations on the refractive properties of different gases, in the measurement of an arc of the meridian in Spain, and in subsequent years he was engaged in various other geodetic determinations. In 1814 he was made chevalier and in 1849 commander, of the Legion of Honour. He failed in his ambition of becoming perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sciences, but was somewhat consoled by his election as a member of the French Academy in 1856. He died in Paris on the 3rd of February 1862. His researches extended to almost every branch of physical science, but his most important work was of an optical character. He was especially interested in questions relating to the polarization of light, and his observations in this field, which gained him the Rumford medal of the Royal Society in 1840, laid the foundations of the polarimetric analysis of sugar.
Biot was an extremely prolific writer, and besides a great number of scientific memoirs, biographies, &c., his published works include: Analyse de la mecanique celeste de M. Laplace (1801); Traite analytique des courbes et des surfaces du second degre (1802); Recherches sur l'integration des equations differentielles partielles et sur les vibrations des surfaces (1803); Traite de physique (1816); Recueil d'observations geodesiques, astronomiques et physiques executees en Espagne et Ecosse, with Arago (1821); Memoire sur la vraie constitution de l'atmosphere terrestre (1841); Traite elementaire d'astronomie physique (1805); Recherches sur plusieurs points de l'astronomie egyptienne (1823); Recherches sur l'ancienne astronomic chinoise (1840); Etudes sur l'astronomie indienne et sur l'astronomie chinoise (1862); Essai sur l'histoire generale des sciences pendant la Revolution (1803); Discours sur Montaigne (1812); Lettres sur l'approvisionnement de Paris et sur le commerce des grains (1835); Mélanges scientifiques et litteraires (1858). His SOD, Edouard Constant Biot (1803-1850), after amassing a competence from railway engineering, turned to the study of Chinese subjects, and published Causes de l'abolition de l'esclavage ancien en occident (1840); Dictionnaire des noms anciens et modernes des villes et des arrondissements compris dans l'empire chinois (1842); Essai sur l'histoire de l'instruction publique en Chine et de la corporation des lettres (1847); Memoire sur les colonies militaires et agricoles des chinois (1850).
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