Ampere

Ampere
   , Amp, Ampere's Law
   Would you believe that a person so traumatized that he could not speak or read for more than a year went on to become a distinguished scientist, so distinguished that he gave his name to the English language? In every dictionary can be found the word ampere: a unit of electric current equal to the steady current produced by one volt acting through a resistance of one ohm.
   Andre Marie Ampere (1775-1836), a French scientist, lived so tragic a life as to make one wonder how his mind could have retained its brilliance. The tragedy that rendered him incapable of speaking at age eighteen was the execution of his father by guillotine during the Reign of Terror. With time, Ampere recovered his voice and at age twenty-four he married. A few years later, his wife died and Ampere ecame despondent once again.
   Ampere poured himself i o his work. While a professor of physics at the College de France in Paris, he made important discoveries relating to the nature of electricity and magnetism. He was the first to expound the theory that the earth's magnetism is the product of terrestrial electric currents that circle the globe from east to west. Through mathematics he made his greatest discovery, which formulated the law of mechanical action between electric currents and came to be known as Ampere's law. His discovery was instrumental in the development of the science of el rodynamics.
   Ampere invented the astatic needle, which made it possible to detect and measure electric currents, and contributed to the invention of the electric telegraph. The International Electric Congress, in 1881, lifted his name forty-five years after his death to designate the unit of intensity of electric current, abbreviated amp.
   Ampere did his best thinking while walking. He paced his room for long periods and became, possibly, the world's best-known peripatetic scientist after Aristotle.

Dictionary of eponyms. . 2013.

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  • ampère — [ ɑ̃pɛr ] n. m. • 1865; de Ampère, nom d un physicien ♦ Unité d intensité des courants électriques, qui correspond à un écoulement de un coulomb par seconde dans un conducteur (symb. A). Ampère par mètre (symb. A/m) :unité d intensité de champ… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • AMPÈRE (A.-M.) — Dans l’effort continu de l’homme pour dominer la matière, capter son énergie, interpréter ses manifestations et les utiliser, des noms illustres émergent à qui nous sommes redevables de toute cette transformation. Dans la multitude de savants,… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Ampere — Ampère Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Ampère peut désigner : André Marie Ampère (1775 1836), physicien français. Son nom a été donné à : l’ampère, unité SI d’intensité d’un… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Ampere —     André Marie Ampère     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► André Marie Ampère     Physicist and mathematician, b. 22 January, 1775, at Lyons, France; d. at Marseilles, 10 June, 1836. His father was a prosperous and educated merchant, his mother… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Ampère — can refer to: *Ampère (car) *Ampere (unit) *André Marie Ampère, one of the main discoverers of electromagnetism *Ampere (band) …   Wikipedia

  • Ampère — ampere (de «A. M. Ampère», físico francés) m. Fís. Amperio, en la nomenclatura internacional. * * * ampere. (De A. M. Ampère, 1775 1836, matemático y físico francés). m. Fís. amperio. * * * …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Ampère — (Париж,Франция) Категория отеля: 4 звездочный отель Адрес: 102 Avenue de Villiers, 17 й округ …   Каталог отелей

  • Ampère — (spr. angpǟr ), 1) André Marie, Physiker und Mathematiker, geb. 22. Jan. 1775 in Lyon, gest. 10. Juni 1836 in Marseille, studierte Chemie und Physik, erhielt 1801 eine Professur in Bourg, ging von dort nach Lyon und 1805 nach Paris und ward 1809… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • ampere — (de «A. M. Ampère», físico francés) m. Fís. Amperio, en la nomenclatura internacional. * * * ampere. (De A. M. Ampère, 1775 1836, matemático y físico francés). m. Fís. amperio. * * * ► masculino METR …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • ampere — (n.) 1881, the current that one volt can send through one ohm, from Fr. ampère, named for French physicist André Marie Ampère (1775 1836). Shortened form amp is attested from 1886 …   Etymology dictionary

  • Ampere — Am p[ e]re ([aum]N p[^a]r ), Ampere Am*pere ([a^]m*p[=a]r ), n. [From the name of a French electrician.] (Elec.) The unit of electric current; defined by the International Electrical Congress in 1893 and by U. S. Statute as, one tenth of the unit …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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