Petit, Alexis-Thérèse

Born Oct. 2, 1791, in Vesoul; died June 21, 1820, in Paris. French physicist.

Petit graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris in 1809. The following year he began teaching at the Bonaparte Lycée, and in 1815 he was appointed a professor at the Ecole Polytechnique. Petit did his most important work with P. L. Dulong (seeDULONG, PIERRE LOUIS).