Henri Bénard and pattern-forming instabilities

Abstract

Abstract The first quantitative experimental study of thermal convection has been performed by Henri Benard, who presented his results in two articles published in the Comptes rendus in 1900. After describing the first experiments of Benard and the ones he performed later with his students, we discuss some theoretical steps that led to the full understanding of Benard's experiments more than fifty years later. We then shortly review some more recent aspects of pattern-forming instabilities that are directly related to the experimental work conducted by Benard and his students.