Siméon Denis Poisson

Siméon Poisson
Born(1781-06-21)21 June 1781
Pithiviers, Kingdom of France (present-day Loiret)
Died25 April 1840(1840-04-25) (aged 58)
Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, Kingdom of France
Alma materÉcole Polytechnique
Known forPoisson process
Poisson equation
Poisson kernel
Poisson distribution
Poisson bracket
Poisson's spot
Poisson's ratio
See list
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics and physics
InstitutionsÉcole Polytechnique
Bureau des Longitudes
Faculté des sciences de Paris
École de Saint-Cyr
Academic advisorsJoseph-Louis Lagrange
Pierre-Simon Laplace
Doctoral studentsMichel Chasles
Joseph Liouville
Other notable studentsNicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot
Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet

Baron Siméon Denis Poisson (/pwɑːˈsɒ̃/, US also /ˈpwɑːsɒn/; French: [si.me.ɔ̃ də.ni pwa.sɔ̃]; 21 June 1781 – 25 April 1840) was a French mathematician and physicist who worked on statistics, complex analysis, partial differential equations, the calculus of variations, analytical mechanics, electricity and magnetism, thermodynamics, elasticity, and fluid mechanics. Moreover, he predicted the Arago spot in his attempt to disprove the wave theory of Augustin-Jean Fresnel.