The entry of Fourier: heat theory and Fourier analysis, 1800–1816

Abstract

It may seem rather contrary to launch this second Volume by describing work produced between 1800 and 1816, the period covered by the previous Volume. But we shall see that Fourier produced his results almost entirely in isolation—even geographical isolation—from the Parisian activities described in earlier chapters. Moreover, in content they were opposed to mathematical fashion; and only after 1816 did they gain general acceptance and use. Thus their account properly belongs here, as an important component of the turns in both mathematics and physics with which this Volume is chiefly concerned.