Mathematicians

Claude-Louis Navier

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Also Known As Claude Louis Marie Henri Navier

Modern

Citation Formats

General Reference

Mathematics Atlas. "Claude-Louis Navier." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-mathematics.interactiveatlas.org/mathematicians/claude-louis-navier.

APA Style

Mathematics Atlas. (n.d.). Claude-Louis Navier. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-mathematics.interactiveatlas.org/mathematicians/claude-louis-navier

BibTeX

@misc{mathematicsatlas-claude-louis-navier,
  author = {Mathematics Atlas},
  title = {Claude-Louis Navier},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-mathematics.interactiveatlas.org/mathematicians/claude-louis-navier},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

French engineer and physicist, raised from age eight by his great-uncle, the civil engineer Emiland Gauthey, after his father's death. He formulated equations for incompressible fluid flow in 1821 and extended them to viscous fluids in 1822, arriving at them from a molecular theory of forces rather than a modern shear-stress derivation. These equations, later completed by George Gabriel Stokes, are the Navier half of the Navier-Stokes equations governing fluid motion. He also developed the first theoretical framework for suspension bridge design.

Facts

Birth Date

1785-02-10 1

Birth Year

1785 2

Death Date

1836-08-21 1

Death Year

1836 2

Birthplace

Dijon, France 1

Death Place

Paris, France 1

Nationality / Culture

French 1

Defining Contribution

Formulated equations for incompressible fluid flow (1821), extended to viscous fluids (1822), the Navier half of the Navier-Stokes equations. 1

Notable Work

Co-formulated the Navier-Stokes equations governing the motion of viscous fluids. 2

Award

Elected to the French Academy of Sciences (1824); one of 72 scientists whose names are inscribed on the Eiffel Tower. 2

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Navier-Stokes Existence and Smoothness

Navier and Stokes formulated the underlying equations in the nineteenth century; the Millennium Prize question about existence and smoothness of their solutions was posed by the Clay Mathematics Institute in 2000, not by Navier or Stokes themselves.

Source MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive

Sources

1. MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive

University of St Andrews, School of Mathematics and Statisticshttps://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Navier/

Quote, https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Navier/

Claude-Louis Navier was a French mathematician best known for the Navier-Stokes equations describing the behaviour of a incompressible fluid.

View the Source

1. MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive

University of St Andrews, School of Mathematics and StatisticsAssociated With: Navier-Stokes Existence and Smoothness, Biography section, paragraph on major contributions

Quote, Associated With: Navier-Stokes Existence and Smoothness, Biography section, paragraph on major contributions

He gave the well known Navier-Stokes equations for an incompressible fluid in 1821 while in 1822 he gave equations for viscous fluids.

View the Source

2. Claude-Louis Navier (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia Foundationinfobox/opening line

Quote, infobox/opening line

Claude-Louis Navier (born Claude Louis Marie Henri Navier; 10 February 1785 - 21 August 1836) was a French civil engineer, affiliated with the French government, and a physicist who specialized in continuum mechanics.

View the Source

2. Claude-Louis Navier (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia Foundationinfobox

Quote, infobox