Name: Georg Simon Ohm

Born: March 16, 1789, in Erlangen, Electorate of Bavaria

Death: July 6, 1854 (Age: 65)

  • Bavarian (German) physicist and mathematician known for Ohm’s law, Ohm’s phase law and Ohm’s acoustic law.
  • As a high school teacher, Ohm began his research with the invention by Italian scientist Alessandro Volta; the new electrochemical cell. Using his own created equipment Ohm found that there is a direct proportionality between the potential difference (voltage) applied across a conductor and the resultant electric current. This relationship is known as Ohm’s law.

Significant publications

  • Guidelines for an appropriate treatment of geometry in higher education at preparatory institutes (1817).
  • The Galvanic Circuit Investigated Mathematically (1827).
  • Elements of analytic geometry concerning the skew coordinate system (1849).
  • Fundamentals of physics: Compendium of lectures: Nürnberg (1853).

Honors and awards

  • Copley Medal (1841).

Quotes

“The amount of current flowing in a circuit made up of pure resistances is directly proportional to the electromotive forces impressed on the circuit and inversely proportional to the total resistance of the circuit.” (Ohm’s law)