Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier is best known for the trigonometric technique that we now know as the Fourier series. His life was not without excitement outside the mathematical world. During his life he was a political activist caught up in the French Revolution, imprisoned on two separate occasions, a campaigner with Napoleon, and a monarchist!

Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier was born in the French town of Auxerre in 1768, the twelfth of fifteen children. After showing an initial aptitude for mathematics at the Ecole Royale Militaire Fourier's life changed direction in 1787. At this time he entered a Benedictine Abbey at St. Benoit-sur-Loire to train to become a priest. He still loved mathematics and he was unsure if he was making the right decision. Fourier submitted a paper in algebra to Montucla in Paris and held a long-running correspondence with Professor Bonard of Auxerre. Fourier subsequently left St. Benoit in...