Henri Hureau de Sénarmont (September 6, 1808 – June 30, 1862) was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 mineralogist and physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

. He was born at Brou

Brou

Brou may refer to:* Brou, Eure-et-Loir, a village and commune in France* Brou-sur-Chantereine, a village and commune in Seine-et-Marne, France* Brou people, a Khmer Loeu ethnic group in Cambodia-Also see:...

, Eure-et-Loir

Eure-et-Loir

Eure-et-Loir is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers.-History:Eure-et-Loir is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790 pursuant to the Act of December 22, 1789...

. In the course of his career, he became engineer-in-chief of mines

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

, and professor of mineralogy and director of studies at the École des Mines at Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

.

Sénarmont was distinguished for his research on polarization and on the artificial formation of minerals. The Sénarmont prism

Sénarmont prism

The Sénarmont prism is a type of polariser. It is made from two prisms of a birefringent material such as calcite, usually cemented together. The Sénarmont prism is named after Henri Hureau de Sénarmont...

 polarizer is named after him. He also wrote essays and prepared maps on the geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

 of Seine-et-Marne

Seine-et-Marne

Seine-et-Marne is a French department, named after the Seine and Marne rivers, and located in the Île-de-France region.- History:Seine-et-Marne is one of the original 83 departments, created on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution in application of the law of December 22, 1789...

 and Seine-et-Oise

Seine-et-Oise

Seine-et-Oise was a département of France encompassing the western, northern, and southern parts of the metropolitan area of Paris. Its préfecture was Versailles and its official number was 78. Seine-et-Oise was abolished in 1968....

for the Geological Survey of France (1844).