Théodore Olivier
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Théodore Olivier | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | January 14, 1793 |
| Died | August 5, 1853 (aged 60) |
| Resting place | Montparnasse Cemetery 48°50′17″N 2°19′37″E / 48.83806°N 2.32694°E |
| Alma mater | École Polytechnique |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | Ecole centrale des arts et manufactures |
| Thesis | Recherches géométriques sur les centres de courbure des épicycloïdes planes et sphériques, et les développantes sphériques (1834) |
Théodore Olivier (1793–1853) was a French mathematician.
Olivier studied in the Licée Imperial of Lyon where he obtained in 1811 a degree in mathematics with high honours. After this, he went to the École Polytechnique.[1] Olivier looked like Napoleon, but nobody could prove that Olivier was an illegitimate son of the Emperor.[2]
In 1815, he was an adjunct professor in the Artillery School at Metz and, in 1819, he became a full professor. In 1821, at the request of the King of Sweden, Charles XIV John (Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte), he went to Sweden to organize the military school of Marieberg.[3]
Returning to France, Oliver criticized the pedagogical system in the École Polytechnique and in 1829, jointly with Alphonse Lavallée, Jean-Baptiste Dumas and Jean Claude Eugène Péclet, founded the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, where he was professor of geometry and mechanics for the rest of his life.[4] He also was, between 1830 and 1844, a professor at the École Polytechnique and, from 1838, a professor at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers.[5]
Olivier is mainly known for the construction of three-dimensional models of geometry for pedagogical purposes.[4] Most of them were sold to North American institutions such as Union College, Columbia University and West Point, where they are preserved.[6]
Olivier also studied the theory of gears, writing an extensive treatise on the subject, and constructing models, preserved in the Musée des Art et Offices in Paris.[7]
Olivier had no children, but he was the uncle of the French explorer Aimé Olivier de Sanderval.
