Biot

Jean-Baptiste Biot

Born: 21 April 1774 in Paris, France
Died: 3 Feb 1862 in Paris, France

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Jean-Baptiste Biot was educated at the École Polytechnique in Paris and became Professor of Mathematics at the University of Beauvais in 1797. Three years later he became Professor of Mathematical Physics at the Collège de France.

Biot studied a wide range of mathematical topics, mostly on the applied mathematics side. Boit made advances in astronomy, elasticity, electricity and magnetism, heat and optics on the applied side while he also did important work in geometry. He collaborated with Arago on refractive properties of gases.

Biot, together with Savart, discovered that the intensity of the magnetic field set up by a current flowing through a wire varies inversely with the distance from the wire. This is now known as Biot-Savart's Law and is fundamental to modern electromagnetic theory. For his work on the polarisation of light passing through chemical solutions he was awarded the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society.

References:

  1. Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  2. Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica
  3. C E Picard, La vie et l'oeuvre de Jean Baptiste Biot, Éloges et discours académique (Paris, 1931), 221-287. 
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