A French engineer and physicist who studied at the École Polytechnique and then continued his studies at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (1804–06). He was admitted to the French Academy of Science in 1824 and became professor at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in 1830 before taking the position of professor of calculus and mechanics at the École Polytechnique. He directed the construction of bridges at Choisy, Asnières, and Argenteuil, and is noted for his work in fluid mechanics for which the Navier–Stokes equations are best known.