Timeline

1796—Sadi Carnot was born June 1st in Paris, France.  He was the son of
            Lazare Carnot, a poet/philosopher who was briefly Napoleon's

            minister of war.  After resigning from his military position, Lazare
            dedicated his time to his son's education.

1812-1814—Sadi began attendance at a highly esteemed institution for
             physicists and mathematicians.  A short two years later, he
            graduated.  At this time, Paris was being invaded after Napoleon's
            military force had weakened.  During this invasion, Sadi actually
            participated in a skirmish.

1815—Lazare Carnot flees to Germany after Napoleon's rule ended.
            However, Sadi remained an officer in the army for most of his life
            and stayed in Paris.

1824—Fueled by the disparity between French steam engines and British

            steam engines, Sadi became an expert in steam engines and
            published his findings.  Unlike scientists before him who focused

            technical aspects such as design and working fluid, Sadi simplified
            his scope and focused on what drove the engine.  Translated to
            English, his work was title, "Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire".
            While there were some errors in Sadi's work, he distinguished that
            efficiency is only reliant on the difference in temperature between
            the reservoirs.

1832—Sadi Carnot dies during the cholera epidemic of 1932.

1834—A decade after it is published, Sadi's work is finally recognized when
            it is referenced by a railroad engineer named Emile Clapeyron. 

1850-1851—During these years, Carnot's work is integrated into the
            development of thermodynamic theory.  William Thompson(Lord
            Kelvin) and Rudolf Clausius are responsible for creating the
            definition of thermodynamics that we use today.

All information on this timeline was found at
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/96405/Sadi-Carnot