Fourier

[ foor-ee-ey, -ee-er; for 1, 2 also French foo-ryey ]

noun
  1. Fran·çois Ma·rie Charles [frahn-swama-reesharl], /frɑ̃ˈswa maˈri ʃarl/, 1772–1837, French socialist, writer, and reformer.

  2. Jean Bap·tiste Jo·seph [zhahnba-teestzhaw-zef], /ʒɑ̃ baˈtist ʒɔˈzɛf/, 1768–1830, French mathematician and physicist.

  1. a crater in the third quadrant of the face of the moon: about 36 miles (58 km) in diameter.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for Fourier

Fourier

/ (ˈfʊərɪˌeɪ, French furje) /


noun
  1. (François Marie) Charles (ʃarl). 1772–1837, French social reformer: propounded a system of cooperatives known as Fourierism, esp in his work Le Nouveau monde industriel (1829–30)

  2. Jean Baptiste Joseph (ʒɑ̃ batist ʒozɛf). 1768–1830, French mathematician, Egyptologist, and administrator, noted particularly for his research on the theory of heat and the method of analysis named after him

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for Fourier

Fourier

[ furē-ā′, fōō-ryā ]


  1. French mathematician and physicist who introduced the expansion of periodic functions in the trigonometric series that is now named for him. He also studied the conduction of heat in solid bodies.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.