Pierre Polinière was an early investigator of electricity and electrical phenomena, notably "barometric light

Barometric light

Barometric light is a name for the light that is emitted by a mercury-filled barometer tube when the tube is shaken. The discovery of this phenomenon in 1675 revealed the possibility of electric lighting.- The phenomenon and its explanation :...

", a form of gas-discharge light

Gas-discharge lamp

Gas-discharge lamps are a family of artificial light sources that generate light by sending an electrical discharge through an ionized gas, i.e. a plasma. The character of the gas discharge critically depends on the frequency or modulation of the current: see the entry on a frequency classification...

, which suggested the possibility of electric lighting. He also helped to introduce the scientific method in French universities.
Pierre Polinière was the only child of Jean-Baptiste Poulynière and Françoise Vasnier. Pierre's father had inherited an estate in Coulonces in lower Normandy.