1768 – 1830France
Joseph Fourier
Heat spreads, and any shape can be made of simple waves added up.
A short story
He wrote down an equation describing how heat spreads through a metal bar: what we now call the heat equation. He also showed that almost any curve, no matter how wiggly, can be built up from simple waves added together. That idea is now used everywhere: in music, images, weather forecasts, and even in scanning the inside of the human body.
In their own words
The profound study of nature is the most fertile source of mathematical discoveries.
Fourier, Théorie Analytique de la Chaleur, 1822.
The lab their idea turned into
Heat Lab
Place warmth on a grid. Watch it smooth out.
Open Heat Lab →