Simeon Poisson - Biography Essays - Fellows Of The Royal Society

Simeon Poisson - Biography Simeon Poisson's most important works were a series of papers on definite integrals and his advances in Fourier series. Originally forced to study medicine, Poisson began to study mathematics in 1798 at the Ecole Polytechnique. His teachers Laplace and Lagrange were to become friends for life. A memoir on finite differences, written when Poisson was 18, attracted the attention of Legendre. Poisson taught at Ecole Polytechnique from 1802 until 1808 when he became an astronomer at Bureau des Longitudes. In 1809 he was appointed to the chair of pure mathematics in the newly opened Faculte des Sciences. His most important works were a series of papers on definite integrals and his advances in Fourier series. This work was the foundation of later work in this area by Dirichlet and Riemann. In Recherches sur la probabilite des jugements... , an important work on probability published in 1837, the Poisson distribution first appeared. The Poisson distribution describes the probability tha t a random event will occur in a time or space interval under the conditions that the probability of the event occurring is very small, but the number of trials is very large so that the event actually occurs a few times. He published between 300 and 400 mathematical works including applications to electricity and magnetism, and astronomy. His Traite de mecanique published in 1811 and again in 1833 was the standard work on mechanics for many years. His name is attached to a wide area of ideas, for example:- Poisson's integral, Poisson's equation in potential theory, Poisson brackets in differential equations, Poisson's ratio in elasticity, and Poisson's constant in electricity. Libri said of him: His only passion has been science: he lived and is dead for it.

Capital Punishment7 essays

Capital Punishment7 essays The issue of capital punishment has been an ongoing controversy for many centuries. Punishment by death has been in practice since its first appearance in Babylonian writings by Hammurabi dating to 2000 B.C. This form of punishment was later termed as "capital punishment." Abolitionists of capital punishment rely on the eighth amendment for support. Stating that the execution of an inmate regardless of its manner is cruel and unusual punishment. Abolitionists also believe that the punishment is unnecessary and is not cost effective for the American taxpayers. Finally, abolitionists depend on the moral issue of the death penalty to band capital punishment. Capital punishment advocates depend on religious sanctions to justify the death penalty. Those who are for capital punishment believes that it maximizes public safety through incapacitation and deterrence. In 1972, Furman v. Georgia, a case about the death penalty, was brought before the Supreme Court. The court held that the death penalty was given in an arbitrary way for a variety of crimes. At this time the court also held that the death penalty focused mainly on African Americans and the under privileged. This ruling stopped short of actually outlawing the use of the death penalty, but it gave the states fair warning that the death penalty was in dire need of modification. Later in 1976, in the case of Woodson v. North Carolina, the Supreme Court ruled that mandatory death penalties were unconstitutional. However, later in 1976 in the case of Gregg v. Georgia the Supreme Court ruled that under adequate guidelines, the death penalty was not considered cruel and unusual. Therefore was not protected under the eighth amendment right that prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Studies have been done contradicting the Supreme Court's ruling stating that the death penalty is not cruel and unusual punishment. The process in which the body goes through during an exec...