Augustin-Jean Fresnel

Augustin-Jean Fresnel was a French civil engineer and physicist whose research in optics led to the almost unanimous acceptance of the wave theory of light, excluding any remnant of Newton's corpuscular theory, from the late 1830s  until the end of the 19th century. He is perhaps better known for inventing the catadioptric (reflective/refractive) Fresnel lens and for pioneering the use of "stepped" lenses to extend the visibility of lighthouses, saving countless lives at sea. The simpler dioptric stepped lens, first proposed by Count Buffon  and independently reinvented by Fresnel, is used in screen magnifiers and in condenser lenses for overhead projectors.

10 May 1788

Born on the same birth day (10 May): Al-Aziz Billah • Arthur Alexander • Bert Weedon • Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin • Cindy Hyde-Smith • George E. Smith • Hugo Banzer • Jean Mairet • Jim Calhoun • Konstantinos Parthenis • Larry Williams • Lisa Nowak • Louis-Nicolas Davout • Manuel Santana • Max Steiner • Otto Bradfisch • Rick Santorum

Born in the same month (May 1788): Friedrich Rückert