André-Marie Ampère

Lore & Background

Ampère was born on 20 January 1775 in Lyon to Jean-Jacques Ampère, a prosperous businessman, and Jeanne Antoinette Desutières-Sarcey Ampère. He spent his childhood at the family property at Poleymieux-au-Mont-d'Or near Lyon. His father, an admirer of Rousseau, allowed Ampère to educate himself within his library. Ampère resumed Latin lessons, enabling him to master works of Euler and Bernoulli. During the French Revolution, his father was guillotined in 1793. In 1796, Ampère met Julie Carron, marrying in 1799; their son Jean-Jacques was born in 1800. After his wife's death in 1803, Ampère moved to Paris, tutoring at the École Polytechnique in 1804 and becoming a professor of mathematics there in 1809. He also taught at the University of Paris and was elected to the chair in experimental physics at the Collège de France in 1824. In 1814, he joined the class of mathematicians in the Institut Impérial. In September 1820, François Arago showed Ampère Ørsted's discovery of magnetic deflection by electric current. Ampère developed the theory of electrodynamics, showing that parallel wires attract or repel depending on current direction, and formulated Ampère's law. He theorized an 'electrodynamic molecule' (forerunner of the electron). In 1826, he published his magnum opus on electrodynamics. He also contributed to the treatment of nonlinear partial differential equations (Monge–Ampère equation). Ampère was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 1827 and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science in 1828. James Clerk Maxwell called him 'the Newton of electricity'.

Reader's Guide

Ampère, a founder of classical electromagnetism (which he called electrodynamics), also made significant contributions to chemistry and philosophy. He invented the solenoid, a term he coined, and the electrical telegraph. As an autodidact, he became a member of the French Academy of Sciences and a professor at the École polytechnique and the Collège de France. His work in mathematics included a treatise on probability sent to the Paris Academy. His diverse scientific inquiries spanned mathematics, philosophy, chemistry, and astronomy, reflecting the broad intellectual scope of his era. The SI unit of electric current, the ampere, is named after him, and his name is among the 72 inscribed on the Eiffel Tower. He also constructed the term *cinématique* from the Greek *kinema* ("movement"), which became the English "kinematic." Ampère’s personal life was marked by tragedy, including the guillotining of his father during the Jacobin purges and the early death of his wife. A devout lay Catholic, he found solace in the Bible and the Church Fathers during duress, and he took the young student Frédéric Ozanam into his family, connecting him with neo-Catholic leaders.

Did You Know?

• Ampère was an autodidact who educated himself from his father's library.
• He coined the term 'solenoid'.
• The SI unit of electric current, the ampere, is named after him.
• His name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.
• James Clerk Maxwell called Ampère 'the Newton of electricity'.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Écoute les savants, mais ne les écoute que d'une oreille!...

Que l'autre soit toujours prête à recevoir les doux accents de la voix de ton ami céleste!" — André-Marie Ampère "Listen to learned men, but do so only with one ear !...

Let the other be always ready to receive the sweet accents of the voice of your heavenly Friend!" — André-Marie Ampère "André-Marie Ampère in: André-Marie Ampère: Enlightenment and Electrodynamics, Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 158." — André-Marie Ampère "James Clerk Maxwell, A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (1873) quoted from 3rd edition (1892) Vol. 2, Ch. 3, p. 175." — André-Marie Ampère