Joseph Boussinesq

Joseph Valentin Boussinesq (13 March 1842 – 1929) was a French physicist who made significant contributions to the theory of hydrodynamics, vibration, light, and heat.

Boussinesq was born in Saint-André-de-Sangonis, France. The word "turbulence" is owed in large part to Boussinesq. Indeed, Boussinesq was intrigued by the recent work pursued in Scotland by Osborne Reynolds, who talked about "sinuous motion" and wrote a paper using the most expressive phrase "écoulement tourbillonnant et tumultueux", which was abridged by one of his followers to "régime turbulent", hence turbulence.