A Short Bright Flash: Augustin Fresnel and the Birth of the Modern Lighthouse - Hardcover

Theresa Levitt

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 039306879X ISBN 13: 9780393068795

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co., 2013

Synopsis

Augustin Fresnel (1788 - 1827) shocked the scientific elite with his view of the physics of light. The lens he invented was a feat of engineering that made lighthouses blaze many times brighter, further and more efficiently than they had before. As secretary of France's Lighthouse Commission, he planned and oversaw the lighting of the nation's coast. Although Fresnel died young, his brother Leonor presided over the spread of the new technology around the globe. The new lights were of strategic importance in navigation and the Fresnel legacy played an important role in geopolitical events. Levitt's scientific and historical account, rich in anecdote and personality, is a compelling read.

About this title

Review:

It is rare that we see a lighthouse-related book, historical in nature, with the level of research that was put into A Short Bright Flash. Theresa Levitt's superior work has illustrated the genius and ongoing legacy of Augustin Fresnel, whose brilliance not only saved lives but had an everlasting impact on the development of world trade, and whose advanced ideas are still implemented in today's modern culture. --Jeffrey S. Gales, executive director, U.S. Lighthouse Society

About the Author:

Theresa Levitt is an associate professor of history at the University of Mississippi.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co.
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 039306879X
• ISBN 13: 9780393068795
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288