Definitions for fresnel
frəˈnɛl, freɪ-fres·nel

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Fresnel, Augustin Jean Fresnelnoun

   French physicist who invented polarized light and invented the Fresnel lens (1788-1827)

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. fresnelnoun

   A unit of frequency equal to 10 or one terahertz

2. Etymology: For Augustin-Jean Fresnel French physicist

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. fresnel

   Augustin-Jean Fresnel (10 May 1788 – 14 July 1827) 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 (purely refractive) stepped lens, first proposed by Count Buffon  and independently reinvented by Fresnel, is used in screen magnifiers and in condenser lenses for overhead projectors. By expressing Huygens's principle of secondary waves and Young's principle of interference in quantitative terms, and supposing that simple colors consist of sinusoidal waves, Fresnel gave the first satisfactory explanation of diffraction by straight edges, including the first satisfactory wave-based explanation of rectilinear propagation. Part of his argument was a proof that the addition of sinusoidal functions of the same frequency but different phases is analogous to the addition of forces with different directions. By further supposing that light waves are purely transverse, Fresnel explained the nature of polarization, the mechanism of chromatic polarization, and the transmission and reflection coefficients at the interface between two transparent isotropic media. Then, by generalizing the direction-speed-polarization relation for calcite, he accounted for the directions and polarizations of the refracted rays in doubly-refractive crystals of the biaxial class (those for which Huygens's secondary wavefronts are not axisymmetric). The period between the first publication of his pure-transverse-wave hypothesis, and the submission of his first correct solution to the biaxial problem, was less than a year. Later, he coined the terms linear polarization, circular polarization, and elliptical polarization, explained how optical rotation could be understood as a difference in propagation speeds for the two directions of circular polarization, and (by allowing the reflection coefficient to be complex) accounted for the change in polarization due to total internal reflection, as exploited in the Fresnel rhomb. Defenders of the established corpuscular theory could not match his quantitative explanations of so many phenomena on so few assumptions. Fresnel had a lifelong battle with tuberculosis, to which he succumbed at the age of 39. Although he did not become a public celebrity in his lifetime, he lived just long enough to receive due recognition from his peers, including (on his deathbed) the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society of London, and his name is ubiquitous in the modern terminology of optics and waves. After the wave theory of light was subsumed by Maxwell's electromagnetic theory in the 1860s, some attention was diverted from the magnitude of Fresnel's contribution. In the period between Fresnel's unification of physical optics and Maxwell's wider unification, a contemporary authority, Humphrey Lloyd, described Fresnel's transverse-wave theory as "the noblest fabric which has ever adorned the domain of physical science, Newton's system of the universe alone excepted." 

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1. fresnel

   Fresnel typically refers to Augustin-Jean Fresnel, a French physicist known for his research in optics. However, in a broader context, Fresnel can refer to various scientific concepts and inventions linked to him, such as: 1) Fresnel Lens: A type of lens invented by Fresnel that is flat on one side and ridged on the other, used to focus light. They are used in lighthouse light systems, photography, stage lighting, and in many other applications. 2) Fresnel Equations: Equations derived by Fresnel that describe how light behaves when moving between media of differing refractive indices. 3) Fresnel Diffraction: A concept in wave optics that describes how a wavefront diffracts around an object or aperture. Therefore, Fresnel generally refers to scientific theories, concepts or inventions linked to the physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel.

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1. • Physicist

Anagrams for fresnel »

1. flenser

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Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of fresnel in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of fresnel in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

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References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=fresnel
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Fresnel
3. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com