Editing Augustin-Jean Fresnel (section)

== Honors ==

[[File:Bust of Augustin Fresnel by David d'Angers-MnM 41 OA 256 D-IMG 8741.jpg|thumb|Bust of Augustin Fresnel by [[David d'Angers]] (1854), formerly at the lighthouse of [[Hourtin]], [[Gironde]], and now exhibited at the {{nowrap|''[[Musée national de la Marine]]''}}]]

Fresnel was elected to the ''[[Philomatic society|Société Philomathique de Paris]]'' in April 1819,<ref name=kipnis-p217>Kipnis, 1991, p.&nbsp;217.</ref> and in 1822 became one of the editors of the Société's{{hsp}} ''Bulletin des Sciences''.<ref>Frankel, 1976, p.&nbsp;172.</ref> As early as May 1817, at Arago's suggestion, Fresnel applied for membership of the Académie des Sciences, but received only one vote.<ref name=kipnis-p217 /> The successful candidate on that occasion was Joseph Fourier. In November 1822, Fourier's elevation to Permanent Secretary of the Académie created a vacancy in the physics section, which was filled in February 1823 by [[Pierre Louis Dulong]], with 36 votes to Fresnel's 20. But in May 1823, after another vacancy was left by the death of [[Jacques Charles]],{{tsp}} Fresnel's election was unanimous.<ref>Grattan-Guinness, 1990, pp.&nbsp;861,{{tsp}}913–914; Arago, 1857, p.&nbsp;408. Silliman (1967, p.&nbsp;262n) gives the dates of the respective elections as 27 January and 12 May 1823.</ref> In 1824,<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.&nbsp;77.</ref> Fresnel was made a ''chevalier de la Légion d'honneur'' (Knight of the [[Legion of Honour]]).{{r|academie}}

Meanwhile, in Britain, the wave theory was yet to take hold; Fresnel wrote to Thomas Young in November 1824, saying in part:
{{blockquote|I am far from denying the value that I&nbsp;attach to the praise of English scholars, or pretending that they would not have flattered me agreeably. But for a long time this sensibility, or vanity, which is called the love of glory, has been much blunted in me: I&nbsp;work far less to capture the public's votes than to obtain an inner approbation which has always been the sweetest reward of my efforts. Doubtless I&nbsp;have often needed the sting of vanity to excite me to pursue my researches in moments of disgust or discouragement; but all the compliments I&nbsp;received from ''MM.''&nbsp;Arago, Laplace, and Biot never gave me as much pleasure as the discovery of a theoretical truth and the confirmation of my calculations by experiment.<ref>Young, 1855, pp.&nbsp;402–403.</ref>}}
But "the praise of English scholars" soon followed. On 9 June 1825, Fresnel was made a Foreign Member of the [[Royal Society|Royal Society of London]].{{r|royalS-2007}} In 1827{{r|chisholm-1911-fresnel|rines-1919}} he was awarded the society's [[Rumford Medal]] for the year 1824, "For&nbsp;his Development of the Undulatory Theory as applied to the Phenomena of Polarized Light, and for his various important discoveries in Physical Optics."{{hsp}}{{r|royalS-rumford}}

A monument to Fresnel at his birthplace{{r|martan-2014|perchet-2011}} {{crossreference|(see [[#Early life|above]])}}{{hsp}} was dedicated on 14 September 1884{{r|bibmed}} with a speech by {{nowrap|[[Jules Jamin]]}}, Permanent Secretary of the Académie des Sciences.{{r|academie|jamin-1884}}&nbsp; "{{smaller|FRESNEL}}" is among the [[List of the 72 names on the Eiffel Tower|72 names embossed on the Eiffel Tower]] (on the south-east side, fourth from the left). In the 19th century, as every lighthouse in France acquired a Fresnel lens, every one acquired a bust of Fresnel, seemingly watching over the coastline that he had made safer.<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.&nbsp;233.</ref> The lunar features ''[[Promontorium Fresnel]]'' and ''[[Rimae Fresnel]]'' were later named after him.{{r|iau-wgpsn}}
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