The Carnot family

Agence de Tourisme de Nolay

Helping you better understand the region!

The statue of Lazare Carnot was made by the French sculptor Roulleau in 1882. It was miraculously spared from being melted down during the Second World War for its historical and artistic interest. It represents the organiser of the victory in conventional costume, a compass in his left hand, the symbol of science, victory behind his arm and index finger pointing at a map, the symbol of military strategy.
On the side of the Carnot house, a plaque indicates that Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot was born here in 1753. His father, Claude, was bailliff of Nolay. Lazare was the second son of 19 children! An educated engineer, he was also a philosopher, poet, mathematician, physicist and great republican strategist. A member of the National Convention, he was nicknamed the organiser of the victory or the great Carnot for having brilliantly reorganised the French army during the Revolution which led to the victory of Wattignies. He was one of the founders of the École Polytechnique in 1794 with Gaspard Monge.
The Carnot family had a profound impact on Nolay and France. It was a family of mathematicians, physicists and politicians who count among some of the most illustrious characters in France: Lazare Carnot, organiser of the Victory in 1793 under the Revolution, the politician Hippolyte Carnot, Minister of Public Instruction, Nicolas Sadi Carnot, the inventor of thermodynamics, Marie François Sadi Carnot, 5th President of the Republic, and Lazare Hippolyte Sadi, known as the Colonel…

Carnot exhibition

Following the setting up of an exhibition presenting the father of thermodynamics Sadi Carnot, you’ll find in this tab the exhibition that took place in 2013 and the permanent exhibition located along the greenway in Nolay.

The physicist Sadi Carnot, 1796-1832, one of the most quoted scientists in the world, was honoured in Nolay, 200 years after his passing at the Ecole Polytechnique.

The exhibition allowed visitor to discover Sadi Carnot, his family, his life and his work interrupted all too soon by premature death, and local history with a retrospective of the economic life of Nolay since 1820! The exhibition gave broad coverage to the current applications of founding discoveries in the fields of energy, steam engines, motor, heat pumps and refrigerators … as well as conservation and dissipation of energy in all processes of our environment and the universe. The exhibition also opened on the future prospects proposed by researchers and the University of Burgundy. In addition to simple experiments illustrating the principles founded by Carnot on the steam engine, visitors could marvel at the pyreolophore, an extraordinary invention of the Niepce brothers, reconstructed in life size by enthusiasts.

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