André-Marie Ampère

PHYSICIST NAME: André-Marie Ampère
STUDENT NAME: Angela Mari Peralta

BIOGRAPHY

André-Marie Ampère, a French physicist and mathematician was born on January 20, 1775 in Lyon, France. He spent his childhood and adolescence at the family property at Poleymieux-au-Mont-d'Or near Lyon. His father began to teach him Latin, until he discovered the boy's preference and aptitude for mathematical studies. The young Ampère, however, soon resumed his Latin lessons, to enable him to master the works of Euler and Bernoulli. In later life Ampère claimed that he knew as much about mathematics and science when he was eighteen as ever he knew; but, a polymath, his reading embraced history, travels, poetry, philosophy, and the natural sciences.
During the French Revolution, Ampere's father stayed at Lyon expecting to be safer there. Nevertheless, after the revolutionaries had taken the city he was captured and executed. This death was a great shock to Ampère.

In 1796 Ampère met Julie Carron, and in 1799 they were married. From about 1796, Ampère gave private lessons at Lyon in mathematics, chemistry, and languages. In 1801 he moved to Bourg, as professor of physics and chemistry, leaving his ailing wife and infant son (Jean-Jacques Ampère) at Lyon. Her death, in July 1803, troubled Ampère for the rest of his life. Also in 1804, Ampère was appointed professor of mathematics at the University of Lyon.

Ampère claimed that "at eighteen years he found three culminating points in his life, his First Communion, the reading of Antoine Leonard Thomas's "Eulogy of Descartes", and the Taking of the Bastille. On the day of his wife's death he wrote two verses from the Psalms, and the prayer, 'O Lord, God of Mercy, unite me in Heaven with those whom you have permitted me to love on earth.' Serious doubts harassed him at times, and made him very unhappy. Then he would take refuge in the reading of the Bible and the Fathers of the Church."
Ampère died at Marseille and was buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre, Paris on June 10,1836 at the age of 61.

CONTRIBUTIONS

He is generally regarded as one of the main discoverers of electromagnetism. The SI unit of measurement of electric current, the ampere, is named after him. Ampère's fame mainly rests on his establishing the relations between electricity and magnetism, and in developing the science of electromagnetism, or, as he called it, electrodynamics. On 11 September 1820 he heard of H. C. Ørsted's discovery that a magnetic needle is acted on by a voltaic current. Only a week later, on 18 September, Ampère presented a paper to the Academy containing a much more complete exposition of that and kindred phenomena. On the same day, Ampère also demonstrated before the Academy that parallel wires carrying currents attract or repel each other, depending on whether currents are in the same (attraction) or in opposite directions (repulsion). This laid the foundation of electrodynamics.
The topic of electromagnetism thus begun, Ampère developed a mathematical theory which not only described the electromagnetic phenomena already observed, but also predicted many new ones. Ampère was also making significant contributions to chemistry. In 1811 he suggested that an anhydrous acid prepared two years earlier was a compound of hydrogen with an unknown element, analogous to chlorine, for which he suggested the name fluorine. Ampère also worked on the theory of light, publishing on refraction of light in 1815. By 1816 he was a strong advocate of a wave theory of light, agreeing with Fresnel and opposed to Biot and Laplace who advocated a corpuscular theory. In the early 1820's, Ampère attempted to give a combined theory of electricity and magnetism after hearing about experimental results by the Danish physicist Hans Christian Orsted. Ampère formulated a circuit force law and treated magnetism by postulating small closed circuits inside the magnetized substance.

Ampère's most important publication on electricity and magnetism was also published in 1826. Ampère's theory became fundamental for 19th century developments in electricity and magnetism. Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction in 1831 and, after initially believing that he had himself discovered the effect in 1822, Ampère agreed that full credit for the discovery should go to Faraday. Weber also developed Ampère's ideas as did Thomson and Maxwell.

In 1826 Ampère began to teach at the Collège de France. He was there in a position to teach courses of his own instead of topics set for him as was the case at Ecole Polytechnique. Ampère thus taught electrodynamics and this course was taken by Liouville in 1826-27. Liouville made an important contribution to Ampère's electrodynamics course by editing a set of notes taken from Ampère's lectures.
Ampère's final work, published posthumously, was Essai sur la philosophie des sciences, ou exposition analytique d'une classification naturelle de toutes les connaissances humaines ("Essay on the philosophy of science or analytical exposition on the natural classification of human knowledge").

During 1828, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science.

OBJECT OF INTEREST

I chose Ampere firstly because he was a multi-talented man and still has his both feet on the ground. He knows that he owes these gifts to the Almighty Father. Having the fact that all not all scientists believes much in the aspect of religion. Ampere took all the challenges that had shook his life. And instead of giving up and blaming it all to God, he was inspired to move forward. This is what inspires me most, that even when it seems the world is a heavy load on your back, you can still urge to go on with your chin up. Life is unpredictable and none of us can avoid natural occurrences. Though there’s a saying that, “when one door closes, another one opens” which had happened to Mr. Andre Ampere.

Secondly, he proved that art or literature can come side by side with science. I never thought this could happen so it put me to an awe. A person couldn’t just excel to one field, sometimes you just have to discover your “hidden talents” yourself. We always have a choice, and what Ampere took is for his life to be fruitful. All his knowledge and his family’s support didn’t go to waste. Instead it made him a big deal in history and his lessons will stay there for years to come.

Reference:
1. Catholic Encyclopedia on André Marie Ampère 2. http://wikipedia.com 3.http://corrosion-doctors.org