Jean Antoine Nollet (19.02.1700-2.04.1770) was a French experimental physicist and a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1739). He studied at Clermont, Beauvais and Paris. In 1735 he became a teacher of experimental physics. He was professor in Turin and lecturer in Bordeaux and Versailles, from 1753 professor at the Royal College of Navarre, and from 1761 at the School of Arts in Mézières.
His research was in electricity, molecular physics and optics. He invented (1747) the electroscope, improved the Leyden jar and promoted its spread in France, and improved the electrical machine. He took part in the electrical experiments of C. Du Fay.
He “transmitted” electricity along a chain of 180 people. He was the first to notice that electricity “flows off” pointed bodies faster than blunt ones. He put forward the idea of studying the action of electricity on plants and animals. He discovered the diffusion of liquids and osmosis (1748). He studied water vapour and observed its condensation in a vessel during evacuation. He described a machine for grinding lenses.