In science, Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis (1772-1843) was a French physicist, a student of the École Polytechnique, noted for the coining of the term “work”, as the product of force times distance, as embodied in his 1829 principle of the transmission of work:

in as found in his textbook Calculation of the Effect of Machines. [1] In fact, it was French engineer and mathematician Jean-Victor Poncelet, the commandant general of the École Polytechnique, who acknowledged that the word “work” was brought in by Coriolis. [4] Poncelet, who in 1824 had become professor of 'mechanics applied to machines', built on the logic of Coriolis and lectured successfully on the topic of work done by machines, wherein he used the word 'travail' to signify work. [5]

Education
In 1808, Coriolis took the entrance exam for the École Polytechnique, placing second of all students entering that year. After graduation he entered the École de Ponts et Chaussees (School of Bridges and Roads) in Paris. [8]

½ factor
Supposedly, also in his Calculation on the Effect of Machines, according to several references, it was Coriolis who introduced the factor ½ in German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz’s 1686 vis viva for the sake of mathematical convenience. [2] Other references, however, claim that years prior, in 1811, Italian mathematician Joseph Lagrange used calculus to show that a factor of two is involved in the relationship "vis mortua" (potential energy) and "vis viva" (kinetic energy). [3]

Turning forces
Supposedly, in his 1835 paper Coriolis stated that: [6]


Hence, known well in urban folklore, toilets drain clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere. This has since come to be known as the Coriolis force. This phenomenon is that to which in 1885 Austrian physicist Ernst Mach would refer to as "turning tendencies" when discussing the circular movements of troops on dark nights, a precursor to human molecular spin. [7]

References
1. Coriolis, Gustave. (1829). Calculation on the Effect of Machines, or Considerations on the use of Motors and their Evaluation (Calcul de l'Effet des Machines, Ou Considerations sur l’emploi des Moteurs et sur Leur Evaluation). Paris.
2. Jammer, Max. (1957). Concepts of Force: a Study in the Foundations of Dynamics (pgs. 166-67). Harvard University Press.
3. George E. Smith. (2006). "The Vis Viva Dispute: A Controversy at the Dawn of Dynamics", Physics Today 59, Oct., Issue 10, pp 31-36.
4. (b) O I Franksen, “The virtual work principle - a unifying systems concept”, in Structures and operations in engineering and management systems, Trondheim, 1980 (Trondheim, 1981), 17-152.
(c) The contribution of Coriolis, Poncelet, and Navier to the the concept of “work” is examined in detail in: Grattan-Guinness, I. (1984). “Work for the workers : advances in engineering mechanics and instruction in France, 1800-1830, Ann. of Sci. 41 (1), 1-33.
5. Laider, Keith J. (1993). The World of Physical Chemistry (pg. 77). Oxford University Press.
6. Coriolis, G-G. (1835). “On the Equations of Motion of a System of Bodies” (“Sur les équations du mouvement relatif des systèmes de corps”, J. de l’Ecole Royale Polytechnique 15: 144-54.
7. Thims, Libb. (2007). Human Chemistry (Volume One), (section: Human molecular spin, pgs. 209-11). (preview), (Google books). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.
8. Aczel, Amir D. (2003). Pendulum (pg. 131). Simon and Schuster.

External links
● Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis – Wikipedia.
● Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis – MacTutor Biographies.