Siméon Denis Poisson
French mathematician and physicist (1781–1840) who contributed to probability theory, analysis, and mechanics. The Poisson distribution and Poisson's equation bear his name.
In 1818, Siméon Denis Poisson argued that if light were a wave, a bright spot should appear at the center of a circular object's shadow — which he thought was absurd. But when Arago actually ran the experiment, the bright spot appeared, proving light's wave nature.
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