Malus

Étienne Louis Malus

Born: 23 July 1775 in Paris, France
Died: 24 Feb 1812 in Paris, France

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Malus was educated at the École Polytechnique and remained associated with it all his life as an examiner, but his main career was in the army. As an engineer he accompanied Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798. After returning in 1801 he held posts in Antwerp, Strasbourg, and Paris.

His mathematical work was almost entirely concerned with the study of light. This involved him in studying geometrical systems called ray systems, closely connected to Plücker's line complexes. He conducted experiments to verify Hugyens' theories of light and rewrote the theory in analytical form. His discovery of the polarization of light by reflection was published in 1809 and his theory of double refraction of light in crystals in 1810.

References:

  1. Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  2. Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica
  3. J B Biot, Biographie universelle XXVI (Paris, 1820), 410- . 
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