Langevin, Paul (1872-1946) -- from Eric Weisstein's World of Scientific Biography

French physicist who studied at École de Physique et Chimie (1888-1892), then at École Normale Supérieure (1893-1896), and lastly at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge under J. J. Thomson (1897-1898). He obtained his Ph.D. under Pierre Curie

(1898-1902). He became professor of physics at College de France in 1909, director of the École de Physique et Chimie in 1926, and was elected to the Académie des sciences in 1934. Langevin studied paramagnetism

and deduced a formula correlating paramagnetism

with absolute temperature

and predicting the occurrence of paramagnetic saturation. He also studied the properties of ionized gases and Brownian motion

in gases.

During World War I, he worked on the application of ultrasonic

vibrations to detect of submarines (which culminated in the development of "sonar

" in World War II). Langevin was also very active in spreading relativity theory in France.

Bensaude-Vincent, B. Langevin, Science et Vigilance. Paris: Belin, 1987.

Langevin, P. "La théorie cinétique du magnétisme et les magnétrons."

Langevin, P. Le Principe de relativité. Paris: Chiron, 1922.

Langevin, P. Oeuvres scientifiques de Paul Langevin. Paris: CNRS, 1950.

Langevin, P. and Abraham, H. Mémoires relatifs à la Physique, Ions, électrons, corpuscules. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1905.

Langevin, P. and de Broglie, M. L a théorie du rayonnement et des quanta, Rapports et discussions de la réunion 'Solvay' de 1911. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1912.

Langevin, P. and de Broglie, M. La théorie du rayonnement et des quanta, Rapports et discussions de la réunion "Solvay" de 1911. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1912.

Rousset, A. and Six, J. Des Physiciens de A à Z. Paris: Ellipses, 2000.