Poincare, Lucien / 2008-07-07 00:00:00

A little later--in 1808--he might have witnessed the discovery
made by Malus of polarization by reflexion, and would have been able
to note, no doubt with stupefaction, that under certain conditions a
ray of light loses the property of being reflected.
He might also have heard of one Rumford, who was then promulgating
very singular ideas on the nature of heat, who thought that the then
classical notions might be false, that caloric does not exist as a
fluid, and who, in 1804, even demonstrated that heat is created by
friction. A few years later he would learn that Charles had enunciated
a capital law on the dilatation of gases; that Pierre Prevost, in
1809, was making a study, full of original ideas, on radiant heat. In
the meantime he would not have failed to read volumes iii. and iv. of
the _Mecanique celeste_ of Laplace, published in 1804 and 1805, and he
might, no doubt, have thought that before long mathematics would
enable physical science to develop with unforeseen safety.
All these results may doubtless be compared in importance with the
present discoveries.
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