Poisson, SIMEON-DENIS

Poisson, SIMEON-DENIS, was born at Pithiviers, in Loiret, 21st June 1781; and received into the Ecole Polytechnique in 1798, attracted the notice of Lagrange and Laplace, both of whom anticipated for him a brilliant career. In 1802 he became a professor in the Polytechnique; in 1808 a member of the Bureau des Longitudes; in 1809 professor in the Faculty of Sciences; member of the Institute in 1812, &c.; and this list of distinctions was crowned in 1837 by his elevation to the dignity of a peer of France. He died 25th April 1840. Poisson's whole life was devoted to the prosecution of scientific research, and the fruits of his pen number about 300 Memoirs, inserted in the publications of the Ecole Polytechnique, of the Academy of Sciences, and other scientific journals. Of the separate treatises published by Poisson the best known is the Traité de Mécanique (2 vols. 1833); others were on capillary action, the mathematical theory of heat, the motion of projectiles, and, lastly, the celebrated work Sur l'Invariabilité des moyens Mouvements des grands Axes Planétaires. Poisson is fairly considered one of the chief founders of the science of mathematical physics.