Jules Antoine Lissajous

Jules Antoine Lissajous
Jules Antoine Lissajous, date and photographer unknown
Born (1822-03-04)March 4, 1822
Versailles, France
Died June 24, 1880(1880-06-24) (aged 58)
Plombières-les-Dijon, France
Residence France
Known for Lissajous figures
Scientific career
Fields Mathematics

Jules Antoine Lissajous (French pronunciation: [ʒyl ɑ̃twan lisaʒu]) (March 4, 1822 in Versailles – June 24, 1880 in Plombières-les-Dijon[1]) was a French physicist, after whom Lissajous figures are named. Among other innovations, Lissajous invented the Lissajous apparatus, a device that creates the figures that bear his name. In it, a beam of light is bounced off a mirror attached to a vibrating tuning fork, and then reflected off a second mirror attached to a perpendicularly oriented vibrating tuning fork (usually of a different pitch, creating a specific harmonic interval), onto a wall, resulting in a Lissajous figure. This led to the invention of other apparatus such as the harmonograph.

See also

  • O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Jules Antoine Lissajous", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews .
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