Cornu, Marie Alfred

Related Category: Physics: Biographies

(märē´ älfrĕd´ kôrnü´), 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.