author
H. (Hippolyte) Fizeau
1819–1896
Best known for one of the first successful measurements of the speed of light, this French physicist helped turn light itself into something science could test with precision. His experiments on optics, photography, and moving media left a lasting mark on 19th-century physics.
1 Audiobook
On the effect of the motion of a body upon the velocity with which it is traversed by light
by H. (Hippolyte) Fizeau
About the author
Born in Paris in 1819, Hippolyte Fizeau was a French physicist whose work centered on light. He is especially remembered for his 1849 terrestrial measurement of the speed of light, a landmark experiment that showed it could be measured on Earth rather than inferred only from astronomy.
Fizeau also worked with Léon Foucault on research involving light and heat, contributed to early photographic methods, and carried out the 1851 moving-water experiment now known as the Fizeau experiment. That work became an important part of the history of optics and later discussions of relativity.
He was elected to the French Academy of Sciences and, later in life, received major scientific honors including the Royal Society's Rumford Medal. Fizeau died in 1896, but his name remains closely tied to the experimental study of light and motion.