Jean Léonard Marie Poiseuille

Who was Jean Léonard Marie Poiseuille?

Jean Léonard Marie Poiseuille was a French physicist and physiologist.

Poiseuille was born in Paris, France, and he died there on December 26, 1869.

From 1815 to 1816 he studied at the École Polytechnique in Paris. He was trained in physics and mathematics. In 1828 he earned his D.Sc. degree with a dissertation entitled Recherches sur la force du coeur aortique. He was interested in the flow of human blood in narrow tubes.

In 1838 he experimentally derived, and in Jean Léonard Marie Poiseuille1840 and 1846 formulated and published, Poiseuille's law, which applies to non-turbulent flow of liquids through pipes, such as blood flow in capillaries and veins.

The poise, the unit of viscosity in the CGS system, was named after him. Attempts to introduce "Poiseuille" as the name of the SI unit Pa·s had little success.