Career
He is known for his discovery (contemporaneously with, but independently of, German number theorist Moritz Stern) of the Stern–Brocot tree, a mathematical structure useful in approximating real numbers by rational numbers. This sort of approximation is an important part of the design of gear ratios for clocks. He also made many practical horological innovations including refinement of his father Louis-Gabriel"s Brocot escapement and the development of clocks with perpetual calendar mechanisms.