Marie Alfred Cornu

Marie Alfred Cornu was a French physicist. The French generally refer to him as Alfred Cornu.

Cornu was born at Orlans to Franois Cornu and Sophie Poinsellier. He was educated at the cole polytechnique and the cole des mines. Upon the death of mile Verdet in 1866, Cornu became, in 1867, Verdets successor as professor of experimental physics at the cole polytechnique, where he remained throughout his life. Although he made various excursions into other branches of physical science, undertaking, for example, with JeanBaptistin Baille about 1870 a repetition of Cavendishs experiment for determining the gravitational constant G, his original work was mainly concerned with optics and spectroscopy. In particular he carried out a classical redetermination of the speed of light by A. H. L. Fizeaus method , introducing various improvements in the apparatus, which added greatly to the accuracy of the results. This achievement won for him, in 1878, the prix Lacaze and membership of the French Academy of Sciences , and the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society in England. In 1892, he was elec

Source: Wikipedia