About Marie Alfred Cornu
Marie Alfred Cornu (French: [kɔʁny]; 6 March 1841 – 12 April 1902) was a French physicist and professor of École polytechnique. The Cornu spiral, a graphical device for the computation of light intensities in Augustin-Jean Fresnel's model of near-field diffraction, is named after him. The spiral (or clothoid) is also used in geometric design of roads. The Cornu depolarizer is also named after him. This achievement won for him, in 1878, the prix Lacaze and membership of the French Academy of Sciences (l'Académie des sciences), and the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society in England. He was awarded honorary membership of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society in 1887. Upon the death of Émile Verdet in 1866, Cornu became, in 1867, Verdet's successor as professor of experimental physics at the École polytechnique, where he remained throughout his life.
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