ALESANDRO GUISEPPE ANTONIO

Antonio Anastasio Volta

Alessandro Guiseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (b. Como, Italy, 18th Feb.1745, d. Como, Italy, 5th March
1827) was a pioneer in the field of electricity. The SI unit of electric potential was named after him as the
Volt. The portrait (above) was featured on the Italian 10,000 Lire banknote. He came from a Lombard
family ennobled by the municipality of Como and almost extinguished, in his time, through its service to
the church. One of his paternal uncles was a Dominican, another a Canon and the third an Archdeacon.
His father, Filipo (1862-1752), after eleven years as a Jesuit, withdrew to propagate the line. Filipo
married Maddelena de' conti Inzaghi in 1773. They had seven children; three girls, two of whom became
nuns; three boys who followed the careers of their uncles; and Alessandro, the youngest. Alessandro was
about seven when his father died. His uncle the Canon took charge of his education. Alessandro joined
the local Jesuit College in 1757. His quickness soon attracted the attention of his teachers. In 1761 the
philosophy professor, Girolamo Bonensi, tried to recruit him. This made his uncle want to take him from
school. Volta continued his education at Seminario Benzi. His uncle wanted him to be an attorney. But,
Volta chose the study of electricity.
André-Marie Ampére

André-Marie Ampére

André-Marie Ampére (b. Lyons, France, 22nd Jan. 1775, d. Marseilles, France, 10th June 1836) was a
mathematician, a chemist, a physicist and a philosopher. The SI unit of electric current was named after
him as the Ampere. His father, Jean-Jacques, was a merchant. Jean-Jacques exposed his son to a
library and let him educate himself according to his own tastes. André-Marie soon discovered and
perfected his mathematical talents. He even learned Latin in order to read the works by Euler and
Bernoulli. The great encyclopédie had the most important influence on him. He was also thoroughly
instructed in Catholic faith. During the French Revolution, his father was guillotined. André-Marie was
unable to bear this shock. For a year, he retreated, not talking to anyone. During this time, he met Julie
Carron who was somewhat older than he was. Ampére pursued Julie until she consented to marry him.
They were wed on the 7th of August 1799 and their son, Jean-Jacques, was born.the following year.
Ampére became the professor of physics and chemistry at the École-Centrale of Bourgen-Bresse, where
he worked on probability theory. Julie died on the 13th of July 1803 of an illness. Ampére became
inconsolable again. He married Jeanne Potot in 1806. After the birth of their daughter, Albine, they got a
divorce.
JAMES PRESCOTT JOULE

James Prescott Joule

James Prescott Joule (b. Salford, England, 24th Dec. 1818, d. Salford, England, 11th October 1889) was
the second son of a prosperous brewer. The SI Unit of energy or work was named after him as the Joule.
James was not a strong child. He had a spinal injury which left a slight deformity. Because of this, his
education was limited. To a large extent he was self taught. He even read relatively little and had no
pretence of being a great scientist. When he was 16, he and his brother, Benjamin, studied under Dalton
for about two years. His chief contact with the world was with the members of the Manchester Literary
and Philosophical Society. He began his quantitative electrical work when he was 19, using a standard
resistance of copper wire.
He was a simple, earnest and modest man. He was the first to give an expression for the heat generated
in a resistor by current flow, in 1840, and to observe magnetostriction. He spent a major part of his life
working on the mechanical equivalence of heat. In 1845, he investigated the relationship between the
temperature and the internal energy of gas. In April 1847, he gave a popular lecture in Manchester in
which he stated the concept of the conservation of energy. But, it went unnoticed. At a meeting at Oxford
in June 1847, he was advised by the chairman to restrict himself to a brief oral report on his experiments,
rather than a paper, and not to invite discussion. Fortunately, his idea was grasped by William Thomson,
Faraday and Stokes. Recognition to Joule came from Faraday who introduced Joule's 1849 paper to the
Society. This paper won for him the 1852 Royal Medal. His last remarkable contribution was work in 1860
which resulted in a significant improvement of steam-engine efficiency. In the same year, he made one of
the first accurate galvanometers and calibrated it by use of a voltmeter. He received many awards and
medals including the 1870 Copley Medal and a pension from the queen in 1878.
GEORG SIMON OHM

Georg Simon Ohm

Georg Simon Ohm (b. Erlangen, Germany, 16th March 1789, d. Munich, Germany, 6th July 1854) was a
mathematician and a physicist. The SI unit of electrical resistance was named after him as the Ohm. His
father, Johan Wolfgang Ohm, was a master locksmith. Johan Wolfgang married Maria Elizabeth Beck,
daughter of a master tailor. They were a protestant couple. Of their seven children only three survived
childhood: Georg Simon the eldest, Martin the mathematician, and Elizabeth Barbara. Johan Wolfgang
gave his sons a solid education in mathematics, physics, chemistry and the philosophies of Kant and
Fichte. Their mathematical talents were soon recognised by the Erlangen professor Karl Christian Von
Langsdorf. Georg Simon matriculated on the 3rd of May 1805 at the University of Erlangen. He studied 3
semesters there until his father's displeasure at his supposed overindulgence in dancing, billiards, and ice
skating forced him to withdraw to rural Switzerland.
He began to teach mathematics in September 1806 in Gottstadt. He received his PhD on the 25th of
October 1811. Lack of money forced him to seek employment from the German government. But, the
best he could obtain was a post as a teacher of mathematics and physics at a poorly attended
'Realschule' in Bamberg. He worked there with great dissatisfaction. In 1817, Ohm was offered the
position of 'Oberlehrer' of mathematics and physics at the Jesuit Gymnasium at Cologne. He began his
experiments on electricity and magnetism after 1820. His first scientific paper was published in 1825 in
which he sought a relationship between the decrease in the force exerted by current-carrying wires and
the length of the wires. In April 1826, he published two important papers on galvanicm electricity. He
published his book on Ohm's law, Die Galvanische Kette Mathematische Bearbeit, in 1827. Sir John
Leslie had already provided both theoretical discussion and experimental confirmation of Ohm's law in a
paper written in 1791 and published in 1824, which was not accepted. Ohm's law was so coldly received
that Ohm resigned his post at Cologne. Ohm obtained the professorship of physics at the
Polytechninische Schedule in Nuremberg in 1833. Finally, his work began to be recognised. In 1841, he
was awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London and was made a foreign member a year
later.
CHARLES WILLIAM SIEMENS

Charles William Siemens

Charles William Siemens (ne: Carl Wilhelm Siemens, b. Lenthe, Germany, 4th April 1823, d. London,
England, 9th November 1883) was a pioneer in the practical application of scientific discoveries to
industrial processes. The SI unit of electrical conductance was named after him as the Siemens (S).
Christian Ferdinand Siemens, a wealthy farmer, and his wife, Eleonore Deichmann had eleven sons and
three daughters, of whom Charles William was the seventh child. In July 1839, Eleonore died. Unable to
bear this loss, Ferdinand died six months later. A few years later, the children were dispersed among
relations and friends.
Siemens went to England in 1843. Being a shrewd businessman, he sold the patent of the electroplating
invention of his elder brother, Werner. William was naturalised as a British subject on the 19th of March
1859. On the 23rd of July he same year, he married Anne Gordon. Siemens Brothers, founded in 1865 by
William and Werner, soon became a world famous manufacturer of telegraphic equipment, cables,
dynamos and lighting equipment. William was a member of the Society of Telegraph Engineers; the
British Association, the Institution of Civil Engineers, and the Institute of Mechanical Engineers and a
fellow of the Royal Society. He developed a highly successful meter for measuring water consumption.
His important invention of the regenerative gas furnace and its application to open-hearth steel making
and other industrial processes made him independently wealthy before 1870. In 1874, he designed the
cable ship 'Faraday' and assisted in the laying of the first of several transatlantic cables. During the last
15 years of his life he actively supported the development of the engineering profession and stimulated
public interest in the reduction of air pollution and the potential value of electric power in a wide variety of
engineering applications.
CHARLES-AUGUSTIN COULOMB

Charles-Augustin Coulomb

Charles-Augustin Coulomb (b. Angouleme, France, 14th June 1736, d. Paris, France, 23rd August, 1806)
was a pioneer in the field of electricity, magnetism and applied mechanics. The SI unit of quantity of
electric charge was named after him as the Coulomb. In his electrical studies Coulomb determined the
quantitative force law, gave the notion of electric mass, and studied charge leakage and the surface
distribution of charge on conducting bodies. In magnetism he determined the quantitative force law,
created a theory of magnetism based on molecular polarisation, and introduced the idea of
demagnetisation.
His father, Henrey, came from Montpellier, where the family was important in the legal and administrative
history of Languedoc. His mother, Catherine Bajet, was related to the wealthy de Senac family. During
Charles-Augustin's youth the family moved to Paris. Charles-Augustin attended lectures at the College
Mazarin and the College de France. An argument with his mother over career plans caused Coulomb to
follow his father to Montpellier who became penniless later through financial speculations.
Coulomb graduated in November 1761 with the rank of lieutenant en premier in the Corps du Génie. He
worked at Brest and then at Martinique. While he was in Martinique he became seriously ill several times.
The research he did in Richefort won him the double first prize at the academy in Paris in 1781. He
became a resident in Paris. He found a wife there and raised a family. He wrote 25 scientific Momoirs at
the Academy from 1781 to 1806. He also participated in 310 committee reports to the Academy. In 1787
Coulomb was sent to England to investigate hospital conditions in London. In 1801 he was elected to the
position of the president of the Institute de France. By 1791, the National Assembly reorganized the
Corps du Génie. Coulomb had to resign from the corps. He received an annual pension which was
reduced by two-thirds after the Revolution. He returned to his research in Paris in December 1795, upon
his election as member for physique experiméntale in the new Institute de France. Coulomb's last public
service was as inspector general of public instruction from 1802 until his death. Coulomb's health
declined precipitously in the early summer of 1806 and he died. Secondary accounts indicate that
Revolution took most of his properties and that he died almost in poverty.
MICHAEL FARADAY

Michael Faraday

Michael Faraday (b. Newington, Surrey, England, 22nd Sep. 1791, d. Hampton Court, Middlesex,
England, 25th August 1867) was a physicist, a chemist, a physical chemist and a natural philosopher.
The SI unit of capacitance was named after him as the Farad (F). He was born into a poor family, of
which he was he third of four children. His father, James Faraday, was a blacksmith. James Faraday's
poor health prevented him from providing more than bare necessities to his family. Michael later recalled
that he was once given a loaf of bread to feed him for a week. His parents were members of the
Sandemanian Church, and Michael was brought up within this discipline. His most favourite book was the
Bible in which he had heavily underlined, Timothy 6:10, "The love of money is the root of all evil." Michael,
at the age of 14, was apprenticed to Riebau, a bookseller and a bookbinder, in whose shop he read
books on science that came to his hands.
In 1812, one of the customers at Riebau's shop, gave Faraday a ticket to attend the last four lectures of a
course given by Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. He applied to Davy for
employment, sending him as evidence of his interest the notes that he had made of his lectures. At the
age of 21, he was appointed assistance to Davy to help with both lecture experiments and research. He
accompanied Davy on a tour in Europe where he saw much of the active scientific research. In 1821, he
married Sarah Barnard, a union that was happy though childless. Faraday became the discoverer of
electromagnetic induction, of the laws of electrolysis, and of the fundamental relations between between
light and magnetism. He was the originator of the conceptions that underlie the modern theory of the
electromagnetic field. He also discovered two unknown chlorides of carbon and a new compound of
carbon. His last discovery was the rotation of the plane of polarization of light in magnetic field. When
Faraday was endeavouring to explain to the Prime Minister or to the Chancellor of the Exchequer an
important discovery, a politician's alleged comment was, "But, after all, what use is it?" Whereupon
Faraday replied, "Why sir, there is a probability that you will soon be able to tax it!" His mind deteriorated
rapidly after the mid-1850s. In 1862, he resigned his position at the Royal Institution, retiring to a house
provided for him by Queen Victoria at Hampton Court.
JOSEPH HENRY

Joseph Henry

Joseph Henry (b. Albany, NY, USA, 17th December 1797, d. Washington, USA, 13th May 1878) was a
pioneer in the field of electromagnetism. The SI unit of inductance was named after him as the Henry (H).
He was born to a poor family of Scottish descent and raised as a Presbyterian, a faith he followed
throughout his life. His elementary education was in Albany and Galway, New York, where he stayed with
relatives. Henry was apprenticed to an Albany watchmaker and silversmith. The theater was his principal
interest as an adolescent, until a chance reading of George Gregory's Popular Lectures on Experimental
Philosophy, Astronomy, and chemistry turned him to science. In 1819 he enrolled in the Albany Academy
and remained there until 1822, with a year off to teach in a rural school in order to support himself. He did
odd surviving jobs while he was doing his scientific research. in 1825, Henry was appointed professor of
mathematics and natural philosophy at the Albany Academy. In 1832, he accepted a chair at the College
of New Jersey.
Henry's earliest known work was in chemistry. In 1827, he started active research on electricity and
magnetism. Throughout his career, Henry was interested in terrestrial magnetism and other geophysical
topics. He independently uncovered the sense of Ohm's law and engaged in impedance matching. In
1832, Henry discovered self-inductance following some experiments. He also conducted investigations on
capillarity, phosphorescence, heat, colour blindness and the relative radiation of solar spots with skill and
imagination. His 1835 paper was on the action of a spiral conductor in increasing the intensity of galvanic
currents. He conceived of astronomy as the model science and mechanics as the ultimate analytical tool.
Henry could not accept Faraday's field concept because of his belief in central forces acting in a universal
fluid. He concluded that the currents are oscillatory wave phenomena exciting equivalent effects in an
electrical plenum coincident, if not identical, with the universal aether.
Henry formed the Smithsonian Committee, consisting of dedicated men forming internationally
recognized standards and engaging in free and harmonious intellectual intercourse among themselves.
Being the secretary of the Smithsonian, he was not interested in popularizing science but with supporting
research and disseminating findings.
NICOLA TESLA

Nicola Tesla

Nicola Tesla (b. Smiljan, Croatia, 10th July 1856, d. New York 7th Jan. 1943) was a pioneer in the field of
high-tension electricity. The SI unit of magnetic flux density was named after him as the Tesla (T). He
made many discoveries and inventions of great value to the development of radio transmission and to the
field of electricity. These include a system of arc lighting, the Tesla induction motor and a system of
alternating-current transmission, the Tesla coil, a transformer to increase oscillating currents to high
potential, a system of wireless communication, and a system of transmitting electric power without wires.
He designed the great power system at Niagara. Tesla's advanced concepts include transmission of large
quantities of electrical power without wires and inexhaustible energy supplies from the universe. Despite
over 700 patents bearing his name he disliked being called an "inventor," much preferring the description
"discoverer."
He emigrated to United States in 1884 with the hope of finding a backer for his polyphase alternating
current system. The magnet that drew him was the Niagara falls. As a boy in his teens he had seen a
picture of the falls, ever since then the hope of converting the power of the falls into electricity had
remained with him. It is said that when he thought of an object, he could see it physically and had no
need of pencil and paper, just as when he read, which he did rapidly, he was virtually photographic.
When Edison heard his ideas he was not interested but gave him a job. Edison promised $50,000 if Tesla
could perfect a new type of dynamo. When Tesla succeeded and asked for the money he was told that he
did not understand American sense of humour. At this point Tesla quit. He was unemployed and was
forced to dig ditches at $2 per day to earn a living. Fortunately his foreman introduced him to a Mr Brown
of Westinghouse and once more he had a laboratory. Tesla continued on his invention and in May 1890,
he was granted the first string of patents, and they grew faster. George Westinghouse offered one million
dollars to Tesla for his patents. During the Spanish -American war Tesla offered to the government his
invention of a "robot" to be operated by remote control by means of his wireless system. They laughed at
him. He died a pauper leaving behind a golden legacy in the shape of his great inventions.
WIHELM EDUARD WEBER

Wilhelm Eduard Weber

Wilhelm Eduard Weber (b. Wittenberg, Germany, 24th October 1804, d. Gottingen, Germany, 23rd June
1891) was one of the twelve children of Michael Weber, professor of theology at the University of
Wittenberg. The family lived in the house of Christian August Langguth, a professor of medicine and
natural history. The house was burned during the bombardment of Wittenberg by the Prussians in 1813.
The following year the Webers settled in Halle. Wilhelm began his scientific work in collaboration with
Ernest Heinrich at the University of Halle.
Wilhelm published his famous paper, which contained experimental investigations of water and sound
waves, in 1825. In 1831, he became the professor of physics at Gottingen, where his friendship with
Gauss began. In 1832, Weber introduced absolute units of measurements into magnetism. Gauss and
Weber founded the Gottingen Magnetische Verenin to initiate a network of magnetic observations and to
correlate the resulting measurements. In 1833, they set up a battery-operated telegraph line some 9,000
feet long, between the physics and
astronomical observatory, in order to facilitate simultaneous magnetic observations. Weber also managed
to find time to work with his younger brother Eduard on the physiology and physics of human locomotion.
With the death of William IV in 1837, Victoria became the queen of England and her uncle, Ernst August,
acceded to the rule of Hannover and at once revoked the liberal constitution of 1833. Weber was one of
the seven Gottingen professors who signed a statement of protest. At the king's order all the seven lost
their positions. But, Weber continued his research. In 1843, Weber became the professor of physics at
Leipzig. There he formulated his law of electrical force, which was later discarded with the triumph of
Maxwell's field theory. In 1848, he was able to return to his old position. Weber retired in 1870's,
relinquishing his duties in physics to his assistant, Edward Rieche. Rieche, later began the development
of electron theory of metals from Weber's ideas. Weber received many honours from Germany, France,
and England, including the title of Geheimrat and the Royal Society's Copley Medal. The SI unit of
magnetic flux was named after him as the Weber (Wb). Weber, a friendly, modest, and unsophisticated
man, remained unmarried. He died peacefully in his garden.
 PROJECT

IN

ELECTRONICS
SUBMITTED BY:
DENMARK PAULINO
SUBMITTED TO:
JENIELOU SILVOSA