List of English translations of works by Augustin Fresnel

The following list is in chronological order of original composition. Titles of translations are as assigned by the translators/editors and may involve some editorial discretion.  Abbreviations:  ACP = Annales de Chimie et de Physique (Ser. 2, unless otherwise noted); BSP = Bulletin de la Société Philomathique de Paris / Bulletin des Sciences par la Société Philomatique de Paris; MAS = Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences de l'Institut de France; OC = Oeuvres Complètes d'Augustin Fresnel (3 vols.; 1866, 1868, 1870).

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A. Fresnel (10 Feb. 1815), Letter to Jean François "Léonor" Mérimée (Smithsonian Dibner Library, MSS 546A), in G. Magalhães, "Remarks on a new autograph letter from Augustin Fresnel: Light aberration and wave theory", Science in Context, 19 (2): 295–307 (June 2006), doi.org/10.1017/S0269889706000895, at p. 306 (original French) and p. 307 (English translation).

A. Fresnel (read 30 Mar. 1818),  tr.  E. Ronalds & H. Lloyd, "Memoir upon the colours produced in homogeneous fluids by polarized light", Taylor's Scientific Memoirs 5: 44–65 (1852).  Original: "Mémoire sur les couleurs développées dans les fluides homogènes par la lumière polarisée", ACP (Ser. 3) 17: 172–99 (1846) / OC 1: 655–83.

A. Fresnel (29 July 1818),  tr. as "Fresnel's prize memoir on the diffraction of light" (abridged), in  H. Crew (ed.), The Wave Theory of Light: Memoirs by Huygens, Young and Fresnel, American Book Co., 1900, pp. 81–144.  Original: "Mémoire sur la diffraction de la lumière", crowned 15 Mar. 1819, MAS 5: 339–475 (for 1821–22, printed 1826) / OC 1: 247–382f.

A. Fresnel (Sep.– Nov. 1818), tr. as "Letter from Augustin Fresnel to François Arago, on the influence of the movement of the earth on some phenomena of optics" in  K.F. Schaffner, Nineteenth-Century Aether Theories, Pergamon, 1972, pp. 125–35.  Original: "Lettre de M. Fresnel à M. Arago sur l'influence du mouvement terrestre dans quelques phénomènes d'optique", ACP, vol. 9, pp. 57–66 & plate after p. 111 (Sep. 1818), & pp. 286–7 (Nov. 1818) / OC 2: 627–36.  (Also  tr.  R.R. Traill, "Letter from Augustin Fresnel to François Arago concerning the influence of terrestrial movement on several optical phenomena", General Science Journal, 23 Jan. 2006, 8 pp.)

D.F.J. Arago and A. Fresnel (Mar. 1819),  tr. as "On the action of rays of polarized light upon each other" in  H. Crew (ed.), The Wave Theory of Light: Memoirs by Huygens, Young and Fresnel, American Book Co., 1900, pp. 145–55.  Original: "Mémoire sur l'action que les rayons de lumière polarisés exercent les uns sur les autres", ACP 10: 288–305 (Mar. 1819) / OC 1: 509–22. (OC changes polarisés to polarisée in title; Crew follows OC.)

A. Fresnel (May–July 1821),  tr./ed.  G.R. Putland, "On the calculation of the tints that polarization develops in crystalline plates, & postscript", doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4058004, 2021.  Original: "Note sur le calcul des teintes que la polarisation développe dans les lames cristallisées" et seq., ACP 17: 102–11 (May 1821), 167–96 (June 1821), 312–15 ("Postscript", July 1821) / OC 1: 609–48.

A. Fresnel (finished June 1821),  tr.  T. Young, "Elementary view of the undulatory theory of light", Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and Art, vol. 21 (Jan.– June 1827), pp. 127–41, 441–54; vol. 22 (July–Dec. 1827), pp. 113–35, 431–48; vol. 23 (Jan.– June 1828), pp. 198–215; vol. 24 (July–Dec. 1828), pp. 168–91, 389–407; vol. 25 (Jan.– June 1829), pp. 159–65 (where  vol. numbers assume that  vol. 20 is the only one for 1826).  Original: De la Lumière, in J. Riffault (ed.), Supplément à la traduction française de la cinquième édition du "Système de Chimie" par Th. Thomson, Paris: Méquignon-Marvis, 1822, pp. 1–137, 535–9 / OC 2: 3–146.  (Young's translation is somewhat licentious, e.g. inlining and abbreviating footnotes.)

A. Fresnel (Aug. 1821),  tr./ed.  G.R. Putland, "Note on the remarks of  Mr. Biot relating to colors of thin plates", doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4541332, 2021.  Original: "Note sur les remarques de M. Biot, publiées dans le cahier précédent", ACP 17: 393–403 (Aug. 1821) / OC 1: 601–8.

A. Fresnel (21 Sep. 1821),  tr./ed.  G.R. Putland, "Letter to Arago on biaxial birefringence", Wikisource, 2021.  Original: OC 2: 257–9.

A. Fresnel (Nov. 1821),  tr. anon., "On the ascent of clouds in the atmosphere", Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and the Arts, 15: 165–6 (1823).  Original: "Sur l'ascension des nuages dans l'atmosphère", ACP 21: 260–63 (Nov. 1821) / BSP for  Oct. 1822, pp. 159–60 / Bibliothèque Universelle (Sciences et Arts) 21 (4): 255–8 (Dec. 1822) / OC 2: 663–6.  (See also the note of  Dec. 1822, below.)

A. Fresnel (read 13 Jan. 1822 ?),  tr./ed.  G.R. Putland, "Extrait of the Supplement to the Memoir on double refraction", doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5886692, 2022.  Original: "Extrait du Supplément au Mémoire sur la double réfraction", OC 2: 335–42.

A. Fresnel (read 29 July 1822),  tr.  T. Tag, "Memoir upon a new system of lighthouse illumination", U.S. Lighthouse Soc., undated (archived 19 Aug. 2016).  Original: "Mémoire sur un nouveau système d'éclairage des phares", Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1822 / OC 3: 97–126.

A. Fresnel (signed 8 Sep. 1822),  tr./ed.  G.R. Putland, "Note on the double refraction of compressed glass", doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4706834, 2021.  Original: "Note sur la double réfraction du verre comprimé", read 16 Sep. 1822,  ACP 20: 376–83 (nominally for Aug. 1822, printed Oct.) / OC 1: 713–18.

A. Fresnel (read 9 Dec. 1822),  tr./ed.  G.R. Putland, "Memoir on the double refraction that light rays undergo in traversing the needles of quartz in the directions parallel to the axis", doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4745976, 2021.  Original: "Mémoire sur la double réfraction que les rayons lumineux éprouvent en traversant les aiguilles de cristal de roche suivant les directions parallèles à l'axe", OC 1: 731–51.

A. Fresnel (Dec. 1822),  tr./ed.  G.R. Putland, "Note on the article on the ascent of clouds", Wikisource, 2023.  Original: "Note relative à l'article sur l'ascension des nuages, inséré dans la Livraison d'octobre", BSP for  Dec. 1822, p. 198 / OC 2: 665n.

A. Fresnel (May 1822 – Mar. 1825),  tr./ed.  G.R. Putland, "Extrait of a [second] memoir on double refraction", doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5442206, 2022.  Original: "Extrait d'un Mémoire sur la double réfraction", ACP 28: 263–79 (Mar. 1825) / OC 2: 465–78.

A. Fresnel (read 13 June 1825),  tr. anon., "On the repulsion exerted by heated bodies at sensible distances", Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and the Arts, 20: 164–7 (1826).  Original: "Note sur la répulsion que des corps échauffés exercent les uns sur les autres à des distances sensibles" et seq., ACP 29: 57–62, 107–8 (May 1825) / OC 2: 667–72.

A. Fresnel (finished 1826?),  tr.  A.W. Hobson, "Memoir on double refraction", Taylor's Scientific Memoirs 5: 238–333 (1852).  Original: "Mémoire sur la double réfraction", MAS 7: 45–176 (nominally for 1824, printed 1827), reprinted with corrections as "Second mémoire..." in OC 2: 479–596.  (For notable errata in the 1827 printing, and consequently in the translation, see OC 2: 596n.)

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Last modified 30 September 2023.

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