Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

CARNOT, SADI NICOLAS LEONHARD (1796-1...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 378 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

CARNOT, SADI See also:NICOLAS LEONHARD (1796-1832) , See also:French physicist, See also:elder son of L. N. M. Carnot, was See also:born at See also:Paris on the 1st of See also:June 1796. He was admitted to the hcole Polytechnique in 1812, and See also:late in 1814 he See also:left with a See also:commission in the See also:Engineers and with prospects of rapid See also:advancement in his profession. But See also:Waterloo and the Restoration led to a second and final proscription of his See also:father; and though not himself cashiered, Sadi was purposely told off for the merest drudgeries of his service. Disgusted with an employment which afforded him neither leisure for See also:original See also:work nor opportunities for acquiring scientific instruction, he presented himself in 1819 at the examination for See also:admission to the See also:staff See also:corps (etat-See also:major) and obtained a lieutenancy. He then devoted himself with astonishing ardour to See also:mathematics, See also:chemistry, natural See also:history, technology and even See also:political See also:economy. He was an enthusiast in See also:music and other See also:fine arts; and he habitually practised as an amusement, while deeply studying in theory, all sorts of athletic See also:sports, including See also:swimming and See also:fencing. He became See also:captain in the Engineers in 1827, but left the service altogether in the following See also:year. His naturally feeble constitution, further weakened by excessive study, See also:broke down finally in 1832. An attack of scarlatina led to See also:brain See also:fever, and he had scarcely recovered when he See also:fell a victim to See also:cholera, of which he died in Paris on the 24th of See also:August 1832.

He was one of the most original and profound thinkers who have ever devoted them-selves to See also:

science. The only work he published was his Reflexions sur la puissance motrice du See also:feu et sur See also:les See also:machines propres a developper See also:cette puissance (Paris, 1824). This contains but a fragment of his scientific discoveries, but it is sufficient to put, him in the very foremost See also:rank, though its full value 'was not recognized until pointed out by See also:Lord See also:Kelvin in 1848 and 1849. Fortunately his See also:manuscripts had been preserved, and extracts were appended to a reprint of his Puissance motrice by his See also:brother, L. H. Carnot, in 1878. These show that he had not only realized for himself the true nature of See also:heat, but had noted down for trial many of the best See also:modern methods of finding its See also:mechanical See also:equivalent, such as those of J. P. See also:Joule with the perforated See also:piston and with the See also:friction of See also:water and See also:mercury. Lord Kelvin's experiment with a current of See also:gas forced through a porous plug is also given. " Carnot's principle " is fundamental in the theory of See also:thermodynamics (q.v.).

End of Article: CARNOT, SADI NICOLAS LEONHARD (1796-1832)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
CARNOT, MARIE FRANCOIS SADI (1837-1894) 		[next]
CARNOUSTIE

Site © 2006 - Net Industries