Augustin Fresnel

Many companies were involved in the development and refinement of the Fresnel lens. Some supplied only the glass for the lenses, either in rough form, or both cast and polished. Other companies assembled the glass elements and performed finish work on the lens elements. Still other companies produced both the glass and the finished lenses. This story will be divided into several parts, each discussing one or more of these companies and their contribution to the development of the Fresnel lens.

One might think this is a trick question, similar to "Who's buried in Granet's Tomb " There really was a question about the inventor of the famous lighthouse lens. From 1822, when Augustin Fresnel first published his paper Memoire sur un Nouveau Systeme d'Eclairage des Phares, Sir David Brewster, in Scotland, claimed that he was the true inventor, and his claims were not fully resolved until after his death in 1868. This story will discuss the various claims made by Brewster and the counter arguments made by Alan, David, Thomas Stevenson and others.

France had reached a high level of sophistication in the 1790s, especially in the sciences. It was in 1794, that Lazare Carnot, then a high government official, established a very special school for the best scholars within the country. The original name of the school was 'Ecole Centrale des Travaux Publique,' but its name was changed to'Ecole polytechnique' in the following year. The Ecole Polytechnique was under the supervision ofthe Ministry of Defense and was the best technical school in France.