Cornu, Marie Alfred

Cornu, Marie Alfred (märē' älfred' kôrnü') [key], 1841–1902, French physicist. From 1867 he was professor at the École polytechnique, Paris. He measured the velocity of light and made important contributions to spectrum analysis, astronomy, and optics. Cornu's spiral, a curve for calculating light intensities in Fresnel diffraction, is named for him.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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