There is no book-length critical biography of him, and anyone who proposes to write one must confront the fact that the letters published in his Oeuvres complètes—contrary to the title—are heavily redacted. In the words of Robert H. Silliman (1967, p. 6n): "By an unhappy judgment of the editors, dictated in part, one suspects, by political expediency, the letters appear in fragmentary form, preserving almost nothing beyond the technical discussions of Fresnel and his correspondents." It is not clear from the secondary sources whether the manuscripts of those letters are still extant (cf. Grattan-Guinness, 1990, p.854n). External links List of English translations of works by Augustin Fresnel at Zenodo. United States Lighthouse Society, especially "Fresnel Lenses". . . 1788 births 1827 deaths 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis 19th-century French physicists Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Corps des ponts École des Ponts ParisTech alumni École Polytechnique alumni Foreign Members of the Royal Society French civil engineers French humanitarians French Roman Catholics History of physics Tuberculosis deaths in France Jansenists Light Lighthouses Members of the French Academy of Sciences Optical physicists People from Eure Physical optics