[3] As a mathematician, his most notable work was in projective geometry, although an early collaboration with Charles Julien Brianchon provided a significant contribution to Feuerbach's theorem.

He also made discoveries about projective harmonic conjugates; relating these to the poles and polar lines associated with conic sections.

Later, he served as a professor of mechanics at the École d'application in his home town of Metz, during which time he published Introduction à la mécanique industrielle, a work he is famous for, and improved the design of turbines and water wheels.

[3] He is honoured by having his name listed among notable French engineers and scientists displayed around the first stage of the Eiffel tower.

[7] After this, he attended the École Polytechnique, a prestigious school in Paris, from 1808 to 1810, though he fell behind in his studies in his third year due to poor health.

He attended the École d'application in his hometown during this time, and achieved the rank of lieutenant in the French Army the same year he graduated.

His biographer Didion writes that he was part of the group which was cut from Marshal Michel Ney's army at the Battle of Krasnoi and was forced to capitulate to the Russians,[11] though other sources say that he was left for dead.

During his tenure at this school, he improved the design of turbines and water wheels, deriving his work from the mechanics of the Provençal mill from southern France.

[3] In 1835, he left École d'Application, and in December 1837 became a tenured professor at Sorbonne (the University of Paris), where a 'Chaire de mécanique physique et expérimentale' was specially created for him with the support of Louis Jacques Thénard.