Jean-Baptiste Biot had been aboard for the …
Years: 1814 - 1814
Jean-Baptiste Biot had been aboard for the first scientific hot-air balloon ride in 1804 with Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac (NNDB 2009, O’Connor and Robertson 1997).
They had reached a height of seven thousand and sixteen meters meters (twenty-three thousand feet), quite dangerous without on-board oxygen.
In 1812, Biot had turned his attention to the study of optics, particularly the polarization of light.
Prior to the nineteenth century, light was believed to consist of discrete packets called corpuscles.
During the early nineteenth century, many scientists have begun to disregard the corpuscular theory in favor of the wave theory of light.
Biot begins his work on polarization to show that the results he is obtaining could appear only if light were made of corpuscles.
His work in chromatic polarization and rotary polarization greatly advances the field of optics, although it was later shown that his findings could also be obtained using the wave theory of light (Frankel, Eugene. "Corpuscular Optics and the Wave Theory of Light: The Science and Politics of Revolution in Physics." Social Studies of Science vol. 6, no 2.May 1976. Sage Publications, Ltd. 15 June 2009).
Biot's work on the polarization of light has led to many breakthroughs in the field of optics.
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs), such as television and computer screens, use light that is polarized by a filter as it enters the liquid crystal, to allow the liquid crystal to modulate the intensity of the transmitted light.
This happens as the liquid crystal's polarization varies in response to an electric control signal applied across it.
Polarizing filters are used extensively in photography to cut out unwanted reflections or to enhance reflection.
Biot is also a member of the Legion of Honor; he is elected chevalier in 1814.
