Étienne-Louis Malus
| Étienne-Louis Malus | |
|---|---|
Étienne-Louis Malus
|
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| Born | 23 July 1775 Paris |
| Died | 24 February 1812 (aged 36) |
| Nationality | French |
| Fields | physics |
| Known for |
polarization of light Malus' law |
| Notable awards | Rumford Medal (1810) |
Étienne-Louis Malus /ˈɛtiˌɛn ˈluːiː ˌməˈluːs/ (French: [malys]; 23 July 1775 – 24 February 1812) was a French officer, engineer, physicist, and mathematician.
Malus was born in Paris, France. He participated in Napoleon's expedition into Egypt (1798 to 1801) and was a member of the mathematics section of the Institut d'Égypte. Malus became a member of the Académie des Sciences in 1810. In 1810 the Royal Society of London awarded him the Rumford Medal.
His mathematical work was almost entirely concerned with the study of light. He studied geometric systems called ray systems, closely connected to Julius Plücker's line geometry. He conducted experiments to verify Christiaan Huygens' 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.
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