Edme Mariotte

Edme Mariotte was a French physicist and priest who made significant contributions to the fields of experimental physics, pressure law and hydrostatics. He was one of the first members of the French Academy of Sciences founded in 1666. He independently discovered Boyle's law, which states that the volume of a gas varies inversely with its pressure. He also discovered the blind spot of the eye and designed the first Newton's cradle. He conducted experiments on fluids, colours, sound, barometer, gravity, gun recoil, freezing of water, heat absorption by glass and many other topics. He wrote several books and papers on his findings and communicated with other prominent scientists of his time such as Huygens, Cassini and Leibniz. He died of a stroke in Paris in 1684 at the age of 64. He was buried in the chapel of the guild of the goldsmiths in the rue des Orfèvres. He is regarded as one of the founders of physics in France and his name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower. [10]