 Although we usually associate Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier with the Fourier series, he was also very politically active and a keen supporter of the French Revolution. Writing in 1793, As the natural ideas of equality developed, it was possible to conceive the sublime hope of establishing among us a free government exempt from kings and priests, and to free from this double yoke the long-usered soil of Europe. In 1798, Fourier joined Napoleon's army as scientific advisor during the invasion of Egypt. However, the French fleet was eventually destroyed, trapping them there. It is thanks in part to Fourier that we now know as much as we do about ancient Egypt, for he was responsible for the publishing of papers later collated into the description de l'Egypte. Fourier eventually returned to France in 1801, where he conducted his famous experiment on the propagation of heat, leading him to discover what we now call the Fourier series.