André-Marie Ampère

Today's story is about a French physicist and mathematician who is one of the founders of the electrodynamic science. A scientist whose name is given to the unit of electric current measurement, the ampere. We mean André-Marie Ampère. André-Marie Ampère was born on January 20, 1775, during the French Enlightenment. He grew up on his family's farm in Polymieu-aux-Montadors, near Lyon, where his father allowed him to study in his vast library. Ampère was educated by French Enlightenment figureheads such as George-Louis Leclerc, Denis Diderot, and Jean-Laurent Eilenberg. Ampère continued his lessons, mastering the works of Daniel Bernoulli and Léonard Euler, and in 1799, Ampère got married to Julie Caron. At the age of 12, Ampère taught himself advanced math. In 1802, he lectured physics and chemistry at École Centrale en Bois-en-Bresse. In the same year, he authored a book on mathematical probability called Considerations of the Mathematical Theory of Games. In 1804, he began tutoring in the new École Polytechnique and, in 1809, he was assigned as a professor of mathematics. In 1819 and 1820, he taught philosophy and astronomy at the University of Paris. In 1824, he was appointed to the famous College de France as an experimental physics chair. Influenced by a state experiment that was tested in 1820, Ampère conducted an experiment demonstrating that a magnetic field is formed when two parallel wires are charged with electricity. This experiment proved the law of mechanical action between electric currents and, as a conclusion, Ampère's law is developed. Later, Ampère proposed a physical explanation for the electromagnetic relationship, proposing the existence of an electrodynamic molecule, which later became known as electron, that served as a component constituent of both electricity and magnetism. Far gathering all of his work about electromagnetism, he published in 1827 in his book Memoir on the Mathematical Theory of Electrodynamic Phenomena, uniquely deduced from experience, which formed as a completely new science called electrodynamics. In 1827, Ampère became a foreign member of the Royal Society. In 1836, Ampère's lungs were affected and, as a result of that, his condition deteriorated, where he was required to have a complete rest. However, the 61-year-old general inspector was already frail. He spent his final days in bed, requesting that history and philosophy texts be read to him. Ampère died in the early hours of June 9, in Marseille, away from his family. Ampère's massive contributions to electromagnetism made him one of the pioneers of this field, where James Clark Maxwell later described him as the Newton of electricity. That was the brief biography of the physicist and mathematician André-Marie Ampère. We hope that you enjoyed it. More stories will be covered, so ensure that you are subscribed and click the bell icon. Please help us by liking and commenting and sharing. This encourages us to deliver more. Wait for the next video on the Electricity and Magnetism channel and we'll see you in the next one.