Also known as: Joseph Fourier, Fourier

Joseph Fourier (1768–1830) was a French mathematician and physicist who showed that functions can be represented as sums of sinusoids — the insight behind the Fourier transform.¹

Fourier showed any signal can be expressed as a sum of sinusoids — the mathematics behind the FFT and spectra.

Life and work

Studying heat conduction, Fourier introduced what became Fourier series and analysis, decomposing complex signals into simple frequency components.¹

Contribution

His mathematics is the bridge between the time and frequency domains — the very operation an FFT performs.

Legacy

Every spectrum display and waterfall in an SDR is, at heart, Fourier’s idea made digital.

Sources

1. Joseph Fourier — Wikipedia, for biography and his work on Fourier series and analysis. ↩ ↩²

See also

• Fourier transform
• Fast Fourier transform (FFT)
• Frequency

Learn it step by step

• The FFT & reading a waterfall