Born Apr. 22, 1799, in Paris; died there Dec. 26, 1869. French physician and physicist. Member of the French Medical Academy from 1842.
Poiseuille worked on problems concerning blood circulation and respiration. He was the first to use the mercury manometer (1828) to measure blood pressure in the artery of an animal. His interest in the problems of blood circulation led him to hydraulic research. In 1840–41, Poiseuille experimentally established the law governing the flow of a liquid through a thin cylindrical tube (Poiseuille’s law). The unit of dynamic viscosity (poise) is named after him.