Physicist — Georg Simon Ohm (Erlangen, 1789 – Munich, 1854) was a German physicist, the son of a locksmith who gave him a solid grounding in mathematics and science. He worked for a long time as a secondary-school teacher, carrying out in modest conditions the circuit experiments that made him famous. In 1827 he published “Die galvanische Kette, mathematisch bearbeitet”, in which he established the linear relationship between voltage and current in a conductor, now known as Ohm’s law. His work, initially received with coolness and even hostility by academic circles, was later recognised as fundamental to electrology. The unit of electrical resistance, the ohm, is named in his honour.
Curiosity
His work was initially so poorly understood that he had to resign his teaching post; recognition came only years later, when the Royal Society of London awarded him the Copley Medal (1841).
Theories and contributions
- Ohm’s law — The potential difference across a conductor is proportional to the current flowing through it: .
Present in chapters
Linked atoms
14 linked atoms.
15 Circuiti elettrici
- Ohm’s first law
- Ohm’s second law: resistivity and geometry
- Dependence of resistivity on temperature
- Joule effect
- Internal resistance
- Resistors in parallel
- The ohmmeter
- Energy and power in circuits
- Semiconductors
- Superconductivity