Ohm, Georg Simon (1789-1854), a German physicist, in 1827 described the mathematical law of electric currents called Ohm’s law (see Ohm’s law ). The ohm, a unit of electrical resistance, was named for him.
Ohm was born on March 16, 1789, in Erlangen, Germany. His early education came from his father, a locksmith, who was self taught. In 1805, Ohm entered the University of Erlangen, but he did not remain in school for long. Instead, upon the advice of a professor, he became a teacher and began studying mathematics on his own. In 1811, he returned to the university and earned a doctorate degree. However, he continued teaching and studying mathematics on his own.
Ohm began experimenting in a school physics laboratory after learning about the Danish physicist Hans Oersted’s discovery of electromagnetism in 1820. In 1827, Ohm published Die galvanische Kette, mathematisch bearbeitet (The Galvanic Circuit Investigated Mathematically), which lays out his theory of electricity and his discovery of Ohm’s Law. This discovery was neglected at first by the scientific community, but it would later gain recognition for Ohm’s work. In 1833, Ohm became a professor of physics at Nuremberg and the school’s director from 1839 to 1849. After that, he was appointed a physics professor at the University of Munich in 1849. He died on July 6, 1854.
