Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/1
André-Marie Ampère (
January 22,
1775 –
June 10,
1836), was a French
physicist who is generally credited as one of the main discoverers of
electromagnetism. The
SI unit of measurement of
electric current, the
ampere, is named after him, as well as
Ampère's law. Ampère's fame mainly rests on the service that he rendered to science in establishing the relations between electricity and magnetism, and in developing the science of electromagnetism, or, as he called it, electrodynamics. He died at
Marseille and is buried in the
Cimetière de Montmartre, Paris.
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/2
James Watt (
19 January 1736 –
19 August 1819) was a
Scottish inventor and
engineer whose improvements to the
steam engine were fundamental to the changes wrought by the
Industrial Revolution. Improving on the design of the 1711
Newcomen engine, the
Watt steam engine, developed in
1765 offered a dramatic increase in
fuel efficiency. Watt was ranked first, tying with
Edison, among 229 significant figures in the history of technology by
Charles Murray's survey of
historiometry presented in his book
Human Accomplishments. Watt was ranked 22nd in
Michael H. Hart's
list of the most influential figures in history. The
SI unit of
power, the
watt, is named after him.
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/3
Nikola Tesla (
10 July 1856 -
7 January 1943) was a world-renown
inventor,
physicist,
mechanical engineer and
electrical engineer. He is best known for his revolutionary work in the discipline of
electricity and magnetism. Tesla's patents and theoretical work form the basis of modern
alternating current electric power (AC) systems, including the
polyphase power distribution systems and the
AC motor. In 1943, the
Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the
inventor of the radio. His contribution was recognised and the derived
SI unit measuring
magnetic flux density or
magnetic induction (commonly known as the
magnetic field 
), the
tesla, was named in his honour.
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/4
Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (
February 18,
1745 -
March 5,
1827) was an
Italian physicist known especially for the development of the
electric battery in 1800. In
1775 he devised the
electrophorus, a device that produced a static electric charge. In
1776-
77 he studied the
chemistry of
gases, discovered
methane, and devised experiments such as the
ignition of gases by an electric
spark in a closed vessel. In
1881 an important electrical
unit, the
volt, was named in his honor. The
Toyota Alessandro Volta is named after Volta. Volta Crater on the Moon is also named after him.
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/5
Georg Simon Ohm, (
March 16,
1789 -
July 6,
1854) a
German physicist, was born in
Erlangen and educated at the university there. His most important finding was
Ohm's Law, which he first published in his pamphlet
Die galvanische Kette mathematisch bearbeitet, in
1827. This work, the germ of which had appeared during the two preceding years in the journals of Schweigger and Poggendorff, has exerted an important influence on the development of the theory and applications of
electric current. Ohm's name was adopted as the
SI unit of
resistance, the
ohm (symbol Ω).
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/6
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (
February 22,
1857 -
January 1,
1894) was the
German physicist and
mechanician for whom the
hertz, an
SI unit, is named. In
1888, he was the first to demonstrate the existence of
electromagnetic radiation by building an apparatus to produce
UHF radio waves. Hertz helped establish the
photoelectric effect when he noticed that a
charged object loses its charge more readily when illuminated by ultraviolet light. The
Hertzian cone was first described by Hertz as a type of wave-front propagation through various
media. His experiments help expand the field of electromagnetism transmission and his apparatus was developed further by others in the
history of radio.
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/7
James Prescott Joule,
FRS (
December 24,
1818 –
October 11,
1889) was an
English physicist, born in
Sale. Joule studied the nature of
heat, and discovered its relationship to
mechanical work (see
energy). This led to the theory of
conservation of energy, which led to the development of the
first law of thermodynamics. The
SI unit of work, the
joule, is named after him. He worked with
Lord Kelvin to develop the absolute scale of
temperature, made observations on
magnetostriction, and found the relationship between the flow of
current through a
resistance and the heat dissipated, now called
Joule's law.
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/8
Joseph Henry (
December 17,
1797 –
May 13,
1878) was a
Scottish-
American scientist. During his lifetime, he was considered one of the greatest American scientists since
Benjamin Franklin. While building electromagnets, he discovered the
electromagnetic phenomenon of self-
inductance. He also discovered mutual inductance independently of
Faraday, though Faraday was the first to publish his results. His work on the electromagnetic relay was the basis of the
electrical telegraph, jointly invented by
Samuel Morse and
Charles Wheatstone. The
SI unit of
inductance, the
henry, is named after him.
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/9
Michael Faraday,
FRS (
September 22,
1791 –
August 25,
1867) was an
English chemist and
physicist who contributed significantly to the fields of
electromagnetism and
electrochemistry. He established that magnetism could affect rays of light and that there was an underlying relationship between the two phenomena. It was largely due to his efforts that
electricity became viable for use in technology. The
SI unit of
capacitance, the
farad, is named after him, as is the
Faraday constant, the charge on a mole of
electrons (about 96,485
coulombs).
Faraday's law of induction states that a
magnetic field changing in time creates a proportional
electromotive force.
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/10
Thomas Alva Edison (
February 11,
1847 –
October 18,
1931) was an
American inventor and
businessman who developed many devices which greatly influenced life worldwide into the
21st century. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of
mass production to the process of
invention, and can therefore be credited with the creation of the first industrial research
laboratory. Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding
1,097 U.S.
patents, as well as many patents in the
United Kingdom,
France, and
Germany.
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/11
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (
April 23,
1858 –
October 4,
1947) was a
German physicist. He is considered to be the founder of
quantum theory, and therefore one of the most important physicists of the
twentieth century. In 1894 Planck turned his attention to the problem of
black-body radiation. By interpolating between
Wien's law and the
Rayleigh-Jeans law, Planck found the famous
Planck black-body radiation law, which described the experimentally observed black-body spectrum very well. The discovery of
Planck's constant enabled him to define
a new universal set of physical units (such as the
Planck length and the
Planck mass), all based on fundamental
physical constants.
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/12
Carl Friedrich Gauss (Gauß) (
30 April 1777 –
23 February 1855) was a
German mathematician and
scientist of profound
genius who contributed significantly to many fields, including
number theory,
analysis,
differential geometry,
geodesy,
magnetism,
astronomy and
optics. Sometimes known as "the prince of mathematicians" and "greatest mathematician since antiquity", Gauss had a remarkable influence in many fields of mathematics and science and is ranked as one of history's most influential mathematicians. Gauss was a
child prodigy, and made his first ground-breaking mathematical discoveries while still a teenager. The
cgs unit for
magnetic induction was named
gauss in his honor.
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/13
Hans Christian Ørsted (
August 14,
1777 –
March 9,
1851) was a
Danish physicist and
chemist, influenced by the thinking of
Immanuel Kant. He is best known for discovering the relationship between
electricity and
magnetism known as
electromagnetism. In April
1820 he noticed a compass needle deflected from magnetic north when the electric current from the battery he was using was switched on and off. This deflection convinced him that magnetic fields radiate from all sides of a live wire just as light and heat do. The
CGS unit of
magnetic induction (
oersted) is named in honor of his contributions to the field of electromagnetism.
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/14
Charles Augustin de Coulomb (
June 14,
1736 –
August 23,
1806) was a
French physicist, born in
Angoulême,
France. Coulomb is distinguished in the history of
mechanics and of
electricity and
magnetism. Coulomb explained the laws of attraction and repulsion between electric charges and magnetic poles, although he did not find any relationship between the two phenomena. He thought that the attraction and repulsion were due to different kinds of fluids. The
SI unit of charge, the
coulomb, and
Coulomb's law are named after him.
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/15
Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (
March 12,
1824 –
October 17,
1887) was a
German physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of
electrical circuits,
spectroscopy, and the emission of
black-body radiation by heated objects. He coined the term "black body" radiation in
1862, and two sets of independent concepts in both circuit theory and thermal emission are named "
Kirchhoff's laws" after him. Kirchhoff formulated his
circuit laws, which are now ubiquitous in
electrical engineering, in
1845, while still a student. He proposed his
law of thermal radiation in
1859, and gave a proof in
1861.
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/16
Sir Joseph John Thomson,
OM,
FRS (
18 December 1856 –
30 August 1940) often known as
J. J. Thomson, was an
English physicist. Thomson is credited for the discovery of the
electron, of
isotopes, and the invention of the
mass spectrometer. Thomson conducted a series of experiments with
cathode ray tubes which led him to the discovery of electrons and subatomic particles.
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/17
Guglielmo Marchese Marconi,
GCVO (
25 April 1874-
20 July 1937) was an Italian inventor, best known for his development of a practical
radiotelegraph system, which served as the foundation for the establishment of numerous affiliated companies worldwide. He shared the 1909
Nobel Prize in Physics with
Karl Ferdinand Braun, "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy". While growing up, Marconi had an intense early interest in science, and was especially fascinated by
electricity.
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/18
Alexander Graham Bell ( March 3,1847 – August 2, 1922 ) was an outstanding
scientist,
inventor, and innovator. Born and brought up in
Scotland, he emigrated to
Canada, and later, the
United States. Over the years, his work and efforts were expressed between both countries. Bell is widely acclaimed as the prime developer of the
telephone, with considerable honourable mention to
Antonio Meucci and
Philipp Reis. In addition to Bell's work in
telecommunications, he was responsible for important advances in
aviation and
hydrofoil technology.
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/19
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/19
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/20
Portal:Electronics/Selected biography/20
