Fresnel, Augustin Jean, French physicist, born at Broglie, Eure; as an engineer he rose to be head of the Department of Public Works at Paris; in 1825 he was elected an F.R.S. of London; he made discoveries in optical science which helped to confirm the undulatory theory of light, also invented a compound lighthouse lens (1783-1827).
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Fresco * Fresno