Pierre-Henri Hugoniot (born in
Allenjoie,
Doubs
Doubs (, ; ; ) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.[France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...]
on 5 June 1851; died in Nantes, France in February 1887) was an
inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
,
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
, and
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
who worked on
fluid mechanics
Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids (liquids, gases, and plasma (physics), plasmas) and the forces on them.
Originally applied to water (hydromechanics), it found applications in a wide range of discipl ...
, especially on issues related to material shock. He mostly lived in
Montbéliard
Montbéliard (; traditional ) is a town in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France, about from the border with Switzerland. It is one of the two subprefectures of the department.
History
Montbéliard is ...
, (
Franche-Comté
Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou dialect, Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; ; also ; ; all ) is a cultural and Provinces of France, historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of France, departments of Doub ...
).
After going into the marine artillery upon his graduation from the
École Polytechnique
(, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris.
The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...
in 1872,
[Roger Chéret, "The life and work of Pierre Henri Hugoniot" in ''Shock Compression of Condensed Matter - 1989: Proceedings of the American Physical Society Topical Conference held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, August 14–17, 1989'', S.C. Schmidt, J.N. Johnson, and L.W. Davison, ed.s (Amsterdam, Netherlands: North-Holland, 1990), pages 12-19. Reprinted in:
* R. Chéret (1992) "The life and work of Pierre-Henri Hugoniot," ''Shock Waves'', vol. 2, no. 1, pages 1-4.
* Roger Chéret]
"The life and work of Pierre Henri Hugoniot"
in ''Classic Papers in Shock Compression Science'', J.N. Johnson and R. Chéret, ed.s (New York, New York: Springer,1998), pages 149-160. Hugoniot became professor of mechanics and ballistics at the School of Artillery Lorient (1879-1882) and Deputy Director of the Central Laboratory of the artillery Navy (1882-1884). He was promoted to captain in January 1884, and in April was appointed assistant professor of
mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...
at the École polytechnique. He conducted, along with his colleague Hippolyte Sébert (1839-1930), research on the trigger gas accompanying the detonation of a cannon.
He invented the theory based on
conservation of mass
In physics and chemistry, the law of conservation of mass or principle of mass conservation states that for any system closed to all transfers of matter the mass of the system must remain constant over time.
The law implies that mass can neith ...
, momentum, and energy, which allowed for improvements in fluid flow studies (with applications to aerospace). The
Rankine–Hugoniot equation (or adiabatic dynamics of gas) has been named in his honor.
References
Works
* Hugoniot (1887) "Mémoire sur la propagation du mouvement dans un fluide indéfini," ''Journal de Mathématiques pures et appliquées'' (4th series), vol. 3
pages 477-492and vol. 4
pages 153-168
*
*
1851 births
1887 deaths
People from Doubs
Ballistics experts
French engineers
French fluid dynamicists
École Polytechnique alumni
{{france-engineer-stub