Who were Fabry and Pérot?

American Journal of Physics

Volumn 66, Issue 9, 1998, Pages 797-802

  Mulligan, Joseph F ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE COUNTY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0032342202     PISSN: 00029505     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1119/1.18960     Document Type: Article

References (35)

1. For a good discussion of the physical principles behind the F-P interferometer, see Francis A. Jenkins and Harvey E. White, Fundamentals of Optics (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1976), 4th ed. pp. 301-311; and Frank L. Pedrotti, S. J., and Leno S. Pedrotti, Introduction to Optics (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1987), pp. 291-300.
2. For a good discussion of the physical principles behind the F-P interferometer, see Francis A. Jenkins and Harvey E. White, Fundamentals of Optics (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1976), 4th ed. pp. 301-311; and Frank L. Pedrotti, S. J., and Leno S. Pedrotti, Introduction to Optics (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1987), pp. 291-300.
3. The bibliography found in G. Hernandez, Fabry-Perot Interferometers (Cambridge U.P., New York, 1986) contains over 400 references to papers from the years 1897-1985 on the design, adjustment, and use of F-P interferometers, and this is quite a selective list, which only includes the original papers by Fabry and Pérot, and more recent references deemed important by Hernandez. A good account of the historical development of the F-P interferometer may be found in the first chapter of J. M. Vaughan, The Fabry-Pérot Interferometer (Hilger, Bristol, 1989). An account of some interesting recent applications may be found in William S. Fornall, "The World of Fabry-Pérots," 47-52 Lasers Applicat. (July, 1983).
4. 7. For a good description of an up-to-date laboratory experiment employing a F-P interferometer, see Paul Nachman and Aaron C. Bernstein, "Scanning spherical-mirror Fabry-Pérot interferometer: An upper-division optics laboratory experiment," Am. J. Phys. 65, 202-213 (1997). See also S. Tolansky, An Introduction to Interferometry (Wiley, New York, 1973), 2nd ed., pp. 117-154.
5. 7. For a good description of an up-to-date laboratory experiment employing a F-P interferometer, see Paul Nachman and Aaron C. Bernstein, "Scanning spherical-mirror Fabry-Pérot interferometer: An upper-division optics laboratory experiment," Am. J. Phys. 65, 202-213 (1997). See also S. Tolansky, An Introduction to Interferometry (Wiley, New York, 1973), 2nd ed., pp. 117-154.
6. 7. For a good description of an up-to-date laboratory experiment employing a F-P interferometer, see Paul Nachman and Aaron C. Bernstein, "Scanning spherical-mirror Fabry-Pérot interferometer: An upper-division optics laboratory experiment," Am. J. Phys. 65, 202-213 (1997). See also S. Tolansky, An Introduction to Interferometry (Wiley, New York, 1973), 2nd ed., pp. 117-154.
7. 7. For a good description of an up-to-date laboratory experiment employing a F-P interferometer, see Paul Nachman and Aaron C. Bernstein, "Scanning spherical-mirror Fabry-Pérot interferometer: An upper-division optics laboratory experiment," Am. J. Phys. 65, 202-213 (1997). See also S. Tolansky, An Introduction to Interferometry (Wiley, New York, 1973), 2nd ed., pp. 117-154.
8. 7. For a good description of an up-to-date laboratory experiment employing a F-P interferometer, see Paul Nachman and Aaron C. Bernstein, "Scanning spherical-mirror Fabry-Pérot interferometer: An upper-division optics laboratory experiment," Am. J. Phys. 65, 202-213 (1997). See also S. Tolansky, An Introduction to Interferometry (Wiley, New York, 1973), 2nd ed., pp. 117-154.
9. For example, the Dictionary of the History of Science, edited by W. F. Bynum, E. J. Browne, and Roy Porter (Princeton U.P., Princeton, 1981) contains references neither to Fabry, Pérot, nor their interferometer. Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology (Doubleday, Garden City, NY, 1982), Second Revised Edition contains a brief account of Fabry's life (but nothing on Pérot), and lists Fabry's discovery of ozone in the Earth's atmosphere in 1913 as his most important contribution to science. Azimov fails even to mention their interferometer!
10. This account of Fabry's life and work is based on the article by Sigalia Dostrovsky in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography; on Charles Fabry, Oeuvres Choisies (Gauthier-Villars, Paris, 1938), which contains a 20-page list of Fabry's publications (pp. 669-689); on the obituary of Fabry by Louis Duc de Broglie in Obituary Notices of Members of the Royal Society (London) (1945-1948), vol. 5, pp. 444-450 (in French); on F. Twyman, "The Scientific Work of Charles Fabry," Nature (London) 143, 449-450 (1939); and on three speeches - by Jean Lecomte, Albert Arnulf, and E. Vassy - commemorating the centenary of the birth of Fabry and delivered at the opening session of the 1968 International Ozone Symposium in Monaco. These personal accounts of Fabry's life and work are reprinted in English translation in Appl. Opt. 12, 1117-1129 (1973).
11. This account of Fabry's life and work is based on the article by Sigalia Dostrovsky in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography; on Charles Fabry, Oeuvres Choisies (Gauthier-Villars, Paris, 1938), which contains a 20-page list of Fabry's publications (pp. 669-689); on the obituary of Fabry by Louis Duc de Broglie in Obituary Notices of Members of the Royal Society (London) (1945-1948), vol. 5, pp. 444-450 (in French); on F. Twyman, "The Scientific Work of Charles Fabry," Nature (London) 143, 449-450 (1939); and on three speeches - by Jean Lecomte, Albert Arnulf, and E. Vassy - commemorating the centenary of the birth of Fabry and delivered at the opening session of the 1968 International Ozone Symposium in Monaco. These personal accounts of Fabry's life and work are reprinted in English translation in Appl. Opt. 12, 1117-1129 (1973).
12. This account of Fabry's life and work is based on the article by Sigalia Dostrovsky in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography; on Charles Fabry, Oeuvres Choisies (Gauthier-Villars, Paris, 1938), which contains a 20-page list of Fabry's publications (pp. 669-689); on the obituary of Fabry by Louis Duc de Broglie in Obituary Notices of Members of the Royal Society (London) (1945-1948), vol. 5, pp. 444-450 (in French); on F. Twyman, "The Scientific Work of Charles Fabry," Nature (London) 143, 449-450 (1939); and on three speeches - by Jean Lecomte, Albert Arnulf, and E. Vassy - commemorating the centenary of the birth of Fabry and delivered at the opening session of the 1968 International Ozone Symposium in Monaco. These personal accounts of Fabry's life and work are reprinted in English translation in Appl. Opt. 12, 1117-1129 (1973).
13. This account of Fabry's life and work is based on the article by Sigalia Dostrovsky in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography; on Charles Fabry, Oeuvres Choisies (Gauthier-Villars, Paris, 1938), which contains a 20-page list of Fabry's publications (pp. 669-689); on the obituary of Fabry by Louis Duc de Broglie in Obituary Notices of Members of the Royal Society (London) (1945-1948), vol. 5, pp. 444-450 (in French); on F. Twyman, "The Scientific Work of Charles Fabry," Nature (London) 143, 449-450 (1939); and on three speeches - by Jean Lecomte, Albert Arnulf, and E. Vassy - commemorating the centenary of the birth of Fabry and delivered at the opening session of the 1968 International Ozone Symposium in Monaco. These personal accounts of Fabry's life and work are reprinted in English translation in Appl. Opt. 12, 1117-1129 (1973).
14. This account of Fabry's life and work is based on the article by Sigalia Dostrovsky in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography; on Charles Fabry, Oeuvres Choisies (Gauthier-Villars, Paris, 1938), which contains a 20-page list of Fabry's publications (pp. 669-689); on the obituary of Fabry by Louis Duc de Broglie in Obituary Notices of Members of the Royal Society (London) (1945-1948), vol. 5, pp. 444-450 (in French); on F. Twyman, "The Scientific Work of Charles Fabry," Nature (London) 143, 449-450 (1939); and on three speeches - by Jean Lecomte, Albert Arnulf, and E. Vassy - commemorating the centenary of the birth of Fabry and delivered at the opening session of the 1968 International Ozone Symposium in Monaco. These personal accounts of Fabry's life and work are reprinted in English translation in Appl. Opt. 12, 1117-1129 (1973).
15. Charles Fabry and Jules Macé de Lepinay, "Théorie générale de la visibilité des franges d'interférence," J. Phys., 2nd Sér. 10, 5-20 (1891); C. Fabry, "Théorie de la visibilité et de l'orientation des franges d'interférence," J. Phys., 3rd Sér. 1, 313-332 (1892).
16. Charles Fabry and Jules Macé de Lepinay, "Théorie générale de la visibilité des franges d'interférence," J. Phys., 2nd Sér. 10, 5-20 (1891); Fabry, "Théorie de la visibilité et de l'orientation des franges d'interférence," J. Phys., 3rd Sér. 1, 313-332 (1892).
17. Charles Fabry, "Alfred Pérot," Astrophys. J. 64, 208-214 (1926), on 210-211.
18. Charles Fabry and Alfred Pérot, "Sur les franges des lames minces argentées et leur application à la mesure de petites épaisseurs d'air," Ann. Chim. Phys. 12, 459-501 (1897), reprinted in Charles Fabry, Oeuvres Choisies (Ref. 5), pp. 62-71. This was the earliest article by Fabry and Pérot chosen by Fabry for inclusion in his Selected Works.
19. J. M. Vaughan has written enthusiastically of these 15 papers written jointly by Fabry and Pérot: Perhaps, as importantly, in their blend of theoretical analysis, physical insight, description of equipment and practical exploration, the papers themselves provide a masterly guide to scientific investigation [J. M. Vaughan (Ref. 2), p. 2].
20. In 1913 Benoit, Fabry, and Pérot improved greatly on Michelson's results for such a comparison. On this see Born and Wolf (Ref. 3), pp. 367-369, which explains how the comparison was actually carried out using five F-P etalons of fixed separations 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50, and 100 cm.
21. For the use of F-P interferometers in astrophysics, see Daniel J. Schroeder, Astronomical Optics (Academic, New York, 1987), pp. 251-254; and J. Ring, "The Fabry-Pérot Interferometer in Astronomy," in Astronomical Optics and Related Subjects, edited by Zdenêk Kopal (Interscience, New York, 1956), pp. 381-388.
22. For the use of F-P interferometers in astrophysics, see Daniel J. Schroeder, Astronomical Optics (Academic, New York, 1987), pp. 251-254; and J. Ring, "The Fabry-Pérot Interferometer in Astronomy," in Astronomical Optics and Related Subjects, edited by Zdenêk Kopal (Interscience, New York, 1956), pp. 381-388.
23. C. Fabry and H. Bulsson, "Application of the Interference Method to the Study of Nebulae," Astrophys. J. 33, 406-409 (1911). "Nebulium" was for years considered a new element whose spectrum only appeared in the light emitted by gaseous nebulae. In 1928 it was shown by the American astronomer Ira S. Bowen (1898-1973) that the green emission lines attributed to "nebulium" were actually produced by forbidden transitions in singly and doubly ionized oxygen, and singly ionized nitrogen atoms.
24. C. Fabry and H. Bulsson, "L'absorption de l'ultraviolet par l'ozone et la limite du spectre solaire," J. Phys., 5th Ser. 3, 196-206 (1913).
25. On the occasion of the opening of the new buildings for the Institute of Optics in 1927, Fabry stated his ideas about the type of workers required for its staff and the kind of students it should educate: Three types of scientific and technical activity must converge for the solution of every problem in optics: that of the theoretician, who brings out new ideas and makes calculations, that of the physicist, who makes experiments and measurements, and that of the instrument maker, who builds the final instrument." [Quoted by Albert Arnulf in Ref. 5: Appl. Opt. 12, 1124 (1973).] In accordance with this philosophy of research, Fabry made one component of his institute a special school for the training of optical technicians and instrument makers.
26. The Henry Draper Medal was (and still is) the most prestigious prize in astrophysics awarded in the United States, and was established as an award to a scientist, irrespective of nationality, who had made truly outstanding contributions to astrophysics. On the politics surrounding the award of this medal, especially during the First World War, see Donald E. Osterbrock, Pauper and Prince: Ritchey, Hale and Big American Telescopes (University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1993), pp. 147-149.
27. This account of Pérot's life and work is based largely on Fabry's obituary of Pérot (Ref. 7) and on Sigalia Dostrovsky's article on Pérot in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography.
28. Pérot graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique in 1884, the year before Fabry began his studies there. There are interesting photographs of each of them in their Polytechnique cadet uniforms in Les objets scientifiques: un siècle d'enseignement et de recherche à l'Ecole Polytechnique (Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, 1997), p. 136. [The author is grateful to the Archivist of the Library at the Ecole Polytechnique, Mme. Jacqueline Brenot, for providing him with a copy of this interesting account of the many great scientists produced by the Ecole Polytechnique, and of the scientific instruments they developed during their research careers.]
29. J. M. Vaughan (Ref. 2), p. 10. The interferometer Vaughan is describing here is the one pictured in Fig. 4, which allowed the separation between the interferometer plates to be changed by the movement of one plate along a precisely machined channel normal to the other plate, which was fixed in position.
30. 5, which is at least one order of magnitude less than what a F-P interferometer could achieve because of its higher resolution. Also all gratings, especially those ruled around the turn of the century, were marred by systematic errors in the ruling process which led to inaccurate results even in the comparison of wavelengths.
31. C. Fabry and A. Pérot, "Measures of Absolute Wavelengths in the Solar Spectrum and in the Spectrum of Iron," Astrophys. J. 15, 73-96, 261-273 (1902). Also reprinted in Fabry's Oeuvres Choisies (Ref. 5), pp. 157-181.
32. For an excellent account of the precision achieved in interferometric wavelength measurements using the F-P interferometer, see C. Fabry and H. Buisson, "Wavelength Measurements for the Establishing of a System of Spectroscopic Standards," Astrophys. J. 28, 169-196 (1908). [Fabry and Pérot were both for many years collaborators with the editors, George E. Hale and Edwin B. Frost, in publishing the Astrophysical Journal.]
33. Alfred Pérot, The Decimal Metric System (Typographie Plon-Nourrit, Paris, 1915).
34. One exception was the second meeting of the International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research, held at Oxford University in 1905. Both Fabry and Pérot appear in a photograph taken at this meeting. This is reprinted as Fig. 4 in Joseph F. Mulligan, "The personal and professional interactions of J. J. Thomson and Arthur Schuster," Am. J. Phys. 65, 954-963 (1997); on p. 961.
35. Charles Fabry, "Sur les Confins de la Terre et du Ciel," Address on 24 October 1936 to the formal assembly of the five French Academies; reprinted in Fabry's Oeuvres Choisies (Ref. 5), pp. 625-632; on p. 632. Fabry delivered this address the year after the publication of his book: Physique et Astrophysique (Ernest Flammarion, Editeur, Paris, 1935). This is a popular book containing many perceptive insights into the relationship between physics and astrophysics. The third section of this book Fabry entitled "Physique Céleste et Physique Terrestre," a reflection of his view that both of these deserve to be included on equal terms in what we normally refer to as "physics."