Talk:Siméon Denis Poisson

Thoughts
Nice page tho a writer has used the verb "procured" twice. It's archaic for this usage in English but I think somebody other than me can make a nicer sentence structure.BillO&#39;Slatter 02:16, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Non-objective tone of "Flawed Views" Section
This section has some fascinating information about the historical scientific debate on fundamental physical processes in 19th Century France. However, the tone of the article is a bit cheesy, and oversimplified. It doesn't read like an encyclopedia entry. Especially the repeated use of the phrase "Poisson's hubris." The content is great, but consider making the tone more dispassionate. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Yaanikdesai (talk • contribs) 22:04, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

I added a bias flag on it. I think the whole section should be deleted or at least completely rewritten. It sounds like someone came back from the dead to debate light theory from the 19th century or earlier. Not sure why it sounds so biased given the duality theory. I also noticed that the account that originally added the content was banned from Wikipedia for abuse of terms. So not sure if was related specifically to these changes or something completely unrelated but I don't think the original author of the section intended to be impartial in his or her writing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.169.197.164 (talk) 00:42, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

The introduction begins with "Siméon-Denis Poisson", but the article is currently at "Siméon Denis Poisson". Which is correct? It seems like the former must be wrong, as the latter is used in the French article, and even for the Fédération Denis Poisson. —DIV (128.250.80.15 (talk) 03:56, 19 January 2009 (UTC))

There is enough evidence to take issue with the above conclusion. Both hyphenated and non-hyphenated forms are found in published works, although we must be careful to ignore the English translations. Therefore, as in all such questions we need to find out how Poisson himself wrote his own name.

1) http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k90338b/f7.image.r=poisson.langEN Traité de mécanique,. Tome 2; 1811, Courcier Title page shows "S. D. Poisson".

2) http://books.google.com/books?id=tzQAAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false Nouvelle théorie de l'action capillaire; 1831, Bachelier Title page shows "S. D. Poisson".

3) http://books.google.com/books?id=hOM2AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false Traité de mécanique, Volume 1, 1833, Bachelier Title page shows "S. D. Poisson".

4) http://books.google.com/books?id=uvc_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PP7&dq=Sim%C3%A9on+Denis+Poisson&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false Théorie mathématique de la chaleur; 1835 Bachelier Title page shows "S. D. Poisson".

5) http://books.google.com/books?id=s3YAAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Sim%C3%A9on+Denis+Poisson&hl=en&ei=dGCPTafZKYmusAO71dyXCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false Recherches sur la probabilité des jugements en matière criminelle et en ...; 1837, Bachelier Title page shows "S.-D. Poisson"

6) http://books.google.com/books?id=7g9CqgvfCmEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Sim%C3%A9on+Denis+Poisson&hl=en&ei=dGCPTafZKYmusAO71dyXCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=false Formules relatives aux effects du tir sur les différentes parties de l'affut; 1838, Bachelier Title page shows "S.-D. Poisson"

7) http://books.google.com/books?id=mGw_AAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false Recherches sur le mouvement des projectiles dans l'air, en ayant égard à ...; 1839, Bachelier Title page shows "S.-D. Poisson".

Therefore, based on the limited breadth of data presented above, it would appear that the non-hyphenated form is older. Poisson's principal publisher, Bachelier, started out without a hyphen, and in 1838, started using the hyphenated form. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.176.184.100 (talk) 20:28, 27 March 2011 (UTC)

Poisson's views on the nature of light are not what he's known for, so the lead paragraph is quite misleading
The lead paragraph of this article highlights Poisson's mistaken opposition to the wave theory of light: he also was the final leading opponent of the wave theory of light and was proven wrong on that matter by Augustin-Jean Fresnel.

That's not at all what Poisson is notable for, any more than Einstein or von Braun are most notable for their womanizing.

The Poisson name is all over mathematics, physics, and probability and none of it is because of his mistakes about Fresnel.

That may bear mention, of course, as scientists certainly are wrong sometimes.

But it should not be in the lead paragraph --- especially a lead paragraph consisting of only two sentences --- unless it is truly what he is known for.

Son of eugene (talk) 06:47, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

Fixed. Nerd271 (talk) 15:42, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

Add something about Galois
His interactions with Évariste Galois should be written about on this page. See that page for details. Retardednamingpolicy (talk) 22:22, 6 May 2017 (UTC)


 * ✅ Nerd271 (talk) 14:14, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

Error regarding Dominique-François-Jean Arago
In the section on views of light, the following quote can be found: "The head of the committee, Dominique-François-Jean Arago, who incidentally later became Prime Minister of France"

Following the wikipedia page for Arago reveals this to be blatantly false. I would edit it myself, but there seems to be a complicated governmental system of Andorra that I don't know anything about. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Auni.ahsan (talk • contribs) 16:56, 10 December 2017 (UTC)


 * ✅ Removed last year. Nerd271 (talk) 14:14, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

Requested move 29 January 2022

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 

The result of the move request was: not moved. (non-admin closure) Colonestarrice (talk) 23:40, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

Siméon Denis Poisson → Siméon Poisson – There is no need for using his second name. Cracker-Kun (talk) 17:03, 29 January 2022 (UTC)


 * Oppose – Britannica, MacTutor, Physics Today, British Museum, Smithsonian. There seems to be pretty solid evidence for WP:COMMONNAME, though there may be a case for adding a hyphen. Favonian (talk) 22:38, 29 January 2022 (UTC)
 * Note: WikiProject Mathematics has been notified of this discussion. Favonian (talk) 22:43, 29 January 2022 (UTC)


 * I do not have any immediate opinion, since in the past I have known him by last name alone. From google search, it appears that his name often comes up as "Siméon-Denis" and not "Siméon Denis". Can anyone lend some clarity on this? Gumshoe2 (talk) 23:54, 29 January 2022 (UTC)
 * Oppose - The French wikipedia article uses Siméon Denis.  I checked a few of the books written by him in French on Gallica, and they all seems to use Siméon Denis as part of the name of the author and not just Siméon. (Some articles in "Mémoires de l'Académie ..." just have "M. Poisson" (= Monsieur Poisson) without first name.)  So it seems appropriate to use the double first name, as that is what he was himself using when writing longer works, and what he was known  by.  As far as the hyphen goes, I don't have a strong opinion.  Some French sources written about him seem to use the hyphen, and the French wikipedia both has it with and without hyphens in the same article.  One would have to investigate in more detail.  PatrickR2 (talk) 06:39, 30 January 2022 (UTC)


 * Oppose move to "Siméon Poisson" but support move to the hyphenated version. It is used as such by widely cited and reputable sources such as the ones mentioned by Favonian, and his biographer François Arago gives his name hyphenated too (Notices Biographique, Volume 2, p. 593). Felix QW (talk) 20:56, 30 January 2022 (UTC)


 * Oppose omitting "Denis". There's actually some variability in whether his own books originally had a hyphen or not (e.g., one with and one without ). Either way, though, this would be like moving Jean-François Champollion to "Jean Champollion". XOR&#39;easter (talk) 00:09, 31 January 2022 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
 * Oppose the proposed move to omit his middle name. Including a hyphen between Siméon and Denis makes sense. Nerd271 (talk) 21:27, 7 February 2022 (UTC)
 * re the hyphen, ngrams seem to suggest the unhyphenated form is slightly more common overall. Colin M (talk) 21:09, 10 February 2022 (UTC)

His name means Fish?
Isn't that kind of weird? 85.119.130.112 (talk) 12:49, 2 February 2024 (UTC)