Jean Morlet 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...

 geophysicist who pioneered work in the field of wavelet

Wavelet

A wavelet is a wave-like oscillation with an amplitude that starts out at zero, increases, and then decreases back to zero. It can typically be visualized as a "brief oscillation" like one might see recorded by a seismograph or heart monitor. Generally, wavelets are purposefully crafted to have...

 analysis around the year 1975. He invented the term wavelet to describe the functions he was using. In 1981, Morlet worked with Alex Grossman

Alex Grossman

Alexander Grossmann is a Croatian-French physicist at the Université de la Méditerranée Aix-Marseille II in Luminy campus who did pioneering work on wavelet analysis with Jean Morlet.-References:...

 to develop what is now known as the Wavelet transform.

Morlet graduated from the École Polytechnique

École Polytechnique

The École Polytechnique is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris. Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate Master's program...

 in 1952 and was research engineer at Elf

Elf Aquitaine

Elf Aquitaine was a French oil company which merged with TotalFina to form TotalFinaElf. The new company changed its name to Total in 2003...

 when he invented wavelets to solve signal processing problems for oil prospection.

He was awarded in 1997 with the Reginald Fessenden Award.

He was awarded in 2001 with the first prize Prix Chéreau Lavet, from the Académie des Technologies

French Academy of Technologies

The French Academy of Technologies is a learned society, founded in 2000, with an emphasis on technology. It is the newest of French academies...

.