Seven Concepts Attributed to Sim\'eon-Denis Poisson

Abstract

Sim\'eon-Denis Poisson was 25 years old when he was appointed Professor of Mathematics at the \'Ecole Polytechnique in 1806. Elected to the Paris Acad\'emie des Sciences six years later, he soon became one of its most influential members. The origin and later developments of the many concepts in mathematics and physics that bear his name make interesting stories, a few of which we shall attempt to sketch in this paper.