Sadi Carnot
1 June 1796 – 24 August 1832
Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot (1796-1832) was a French military engineer and physicist often described as the 'father of thermodynamics'. His single published work, 'Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire' (1824), gave the first successful theory of the maximum efficiency of heat engines and introduced the idealized Carnot cycle.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Sadi Carnot.
- Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) Overlapped 36 years →
- André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836) Overlapped 36 years →
- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) Overlapped 36 years →
- Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) Overlapped 36 years →
- Caroline Herschel (1750–1848) Overlapped 36 years →
- Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) Overlapped 36 years →
Life events
Sadi Carnot was born in the Palais du Petit-Luxembourg in Paris, the eldest son of the mathematician and revolutionary statesman Lazare Carnot.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgCarnot received his early education at home from his father, a distinguished mathematician and military engineer.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAt age 16, Carnot was admitted to the École Polytechnique in Paris, where his teachers included Poisson, Gay-Lussac, and Ampère.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAfter further study at the engineering school in Metz, Carnot served as a military engineer, inspecting fortifications and drafting plans.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHis father Lazare Carnot was exiled to Germany following the second Bourbon Restoration, never to return to France.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgCarnot obtained a leave from active military duty and settled in Paris, attending courses and studying the theory of gases and steam engines.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgCarnot published 'Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire', introducing the Carnot cycle and establishing the theoretical limit on the efficiency of heat engines, the founding work of thermodynamics.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgCarnot left military service for good, devoting himself to scientific study in Paris.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgCarnot died at age 36 during the Paris cholera epidemic; because of the contagion, most of his papers and belongings were buried with him.
Source: en.wikipedia.org