Lazare Nicolas Marguérite Carnot

1753-1823

French mathematician and military engineer who headed the Army of the North during the French Revolution, thus acquiring the nickname "organizer of victory." His major scientific contributions are often overshadowed by two events : first, his appointment, along with Gaspard Monge, in 1794 to take charge of what is known today as the Ecole Polytechnique; and second, the birth of his son, Sadi Carnot (1796-1832), the author of a masterpiece on the thermodynamics of the steam engine.