Nicolas Leonard Sadi Carnot’s claim to physics fame is the discovery of the Carnot cycle. The Carnot cycle is the process in which the second law of thermodynamics is based upon. He discovered that that the efficiency of an engine relies upon the amount of heat it is capable of employing.
Nicolas Leonard Sadi Carnot was born in Paris as the son of Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot, a military leader, and was named for the medieval Persian poet Sadi of Shiraz. Young Carnot attended the Ecole Polytechnique, a polytechnic school, and by the age of eighteen he was commissioned in Napoleon’s army. After serving a short time in the army, Carnot then began to move frequently still trying to further his knowledge. Carnot began to attend courses at various institutions in Paris, including the Sorbonne and the Collège de France. At this time he became interested in industrial problems and, in particular, began to study the theory of gases. Carnot visited his father in 1821 and began to discuss an enthusiastic topic, to both him and his father, regarding steam engines. After returning home from his visit, Carnot began the work which led to the mathematical theory of heat and jump started the modern theory of thermodynamics.