Abstract
Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier (1768–1830) was not a number theorist. He would probably not even have called himself a mathematician, but a physicist. His main area of research was the mathematical theory of heat. He wrote several papers about the topic and one basic book, Théorie analytique de la chaleur (Paris, 1822; an English translation was published in 1878). Fourier was a professional politician; as prefect of the Départment d’Isère (at Grenoble), he was closely associated with Napoleon. He accompanied Napoleon on his campaign in Egypt and had the reputation of being quite knowledgeable about that country.
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References
J. Fourier: Théorie analytique de la chaleur, Engl. translation, Cambridge, 1878.
J. Ravetz and I. Grattan-Guinness: Fourier, Jean Baptiste Joseph in Dictionary of Scientific Biography.
I. Grattan-Guinness: Joseph Fourier, 1768–1830, Cambridge, London, 1970.
J. Herivel: Joseph Fourier, the Man and the Physicist, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1975.
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© 1985 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Scharlau, W., Opolka, H. (1985). Fourier. In: From Fermat to Minkowski. Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1867-6_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1867-6_7
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