Étienne-Louis Malus

Malus was born in Paris, France and studied at the military engineering school at Mezires where he was taught by Gaspard Monge.A follower of Laplace, both his statement of the Malus's law and his earlier works on polarisation and birefringence were formulated using the corpuscular theory of light.[6] Malus mathematically analyzed the properties of a system of continuous light rays in three dimensions.If the perpendicular surface is identified with a wave front, it is obvious that this result is false, which Malus did not realize because he adhered to Newton's theory of light emission.Malus's theorem was not proved until 1824 by W. R. Hamilton,[7][8] with Adolphe Quetelet and Joseph Diez Gergonne giving a separate proof in 1825.
Louis-Léopold BoillyMalus's lawPlane of polarizationPolarization of lightMalus-Dupin theoremRumford MedalPhysicsofficerengineerphysicistmathematicianFranceGaspard MongeNapoleon'sexpedition into EgyptInstitut d'ÉgypteAcadémie des SciencesRoyal Society of LondongeometricJulius Plückerline geometryChristiaan Huygensreflectiondouble refractioncrystalsrefractive indexSir David BrewsterBrewster's lawAugustin FresnelFresnel equationsLaplacebirefringencecorpuscular theory of light72 names inscribed on the Eiffel towerLuxembourg palacecorpusculesMalus theoremAdolphe QueteletJoseph Diez GergonnePolarimeterTotal internal reflectionWikisource1911 Encyclopædia BritannicaRobertson, Edmund F.MacTutor History of Mathematics ArchiveUniversity of St Andrews