Joseph Fourier

Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier was a French mathematician and physicist, born in Auxerre, Burgundy, on 21 March 1768, 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 named in his honour, and he is generally credited with the discovery of the greenhouse effect. The son of a tailor, he was orphaned at nine and educated by the Benedictine Order, was appointed to the École Normale in 1795 and succeeded Joseph-Louis Lagrange at the École Polytechnique, and accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte on his Egyptian expedition in 1798 as scientific adviser. He died on 16 May 1830.