Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis

French physicist

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Sep. 15, 2026 •History

Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis (born May 21, 1792, Paris—died September 19, 1843, Paris) was a French engineer and mathematician who first described the Coriolis force, an effect of motion on a rotating body, of paramount importance to meteorology, ballistics, and oceanography.

An assistant professor of analysis and mechanics at the École Polytechnique, Paris (1816–38), he introduced the terms work and kinetic energy in their modern scientific meanings in his first major book, Du calcul de l’effet des machines (1829; “On the Calculation of Mechanical Action”), in which he attempted to adapt theoretical principles to applied mechanics.

Coriolis forceAs seen from a fixed point in space, a parcel of air would be moving in a straight line. This apparent force on the motion of a fluid (in this case, air) is called the Coriolis effect. As a result of the Coriolis effect, air tends to rotate counterclockwise around large-scale low-pressure systems and clockwise around large-scale high-pressure systems in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, the flow direction is reversed.

In 1835 he published a paper, “Sur les équations du mouvement relatif des systèmes de corps” (“On the Equations of Relative Motion of Systems of Bodies”), in which he showed that on a rotating surface, in addition to the ordinary effects of motion of a body, there is an inertial force acting on the body at right angles to its direction of motion. This force results in a curved path for a body that would otherwise travel in a straight line. The Coriolis force on Earth determines the general wind directions and is responsible for the rotation of hurricanes and tornadoes. His other works include Traité de la mécanique des corps solides (1844; “Treatise on the Mechanics of Solid Bodies”) and Théorie mathématique des effets du jeu de billiard (1835; “Mathematical Theory of the Game of Billiards”).