French mathematician, physicist, and inventor who, with Nicolas Robert, was the first to ascend in a hydrogen balloon (1783). About 1787 he developed Charles's law (q.v.) concerning the thermal expansion of gases.

From clerking in the finance ministry Charles turned to science and experimented with electricity. He developed several inventions, including a hydrometer and reflecting goniometer, and improved the Gravesand heliostat and Fahrenheit's aerometer. With the Robert brothers, Nicolas and Anne-Jean, he built one of the first hydrogen balloons (1783). In several flights he rose more than a mile in altitude. He was elected (1795) to the Académie des Sciences and subsequently became a professor of physics. His published papers deal mainly with mathematics.