Georg Ohm

Georg Simon Ohm (German: [om]; 16 March 1789

6 July 1854) was a German physicist and mathematician.
As a school teacher, Ohm began his research with the
new electrochemical cell, invented by Italian scientist
Alessandro Volta. Using equipment of his own creation,
Ohm found that there is a direct proportionality between
the potential dierence (voltage) applied across a conductor and the resultant electric current. This relationship
is known as Ohms law.

1
1.1

with him to Heidelberg to restart his mathematical studies. Langsdorf, however, advised Ohm to continue with
his studies of mathematics on his own, advising Ohm to
read the works of Euler, Laplace and Lacroix. Rather
reluctantly Ohm took his advice but he left his teaching
post in Gottstatt Monastery in March 1809 to become a
private tutor in Neuchtel. For two years he carried out
his duties as a tutor while he followed Langsdorfs advice
and continued his private study of mathematics. Then in
April 1811 he returned to the University of Erlangen.

Biography

1.3 Teaching career

Early years

Ohms own studies prepared him for his doctorate which

he received from the University of Erlangen on October
25, 1811. He immediately joined the faculty there as a
lecturer in mathematics but left after three semesters because of unpromising prospects. He could not survive on
his salary as a lecturer. The Bavarian government oered
him a post as a teacher of mathematics and physics at a
poor quality school in Bamberg which Ohm accepted in
January 1813. Unhappy with his job, Georg began writing an elementary textbook on geometry as a way to prove
his abilities. Ohms school was closed down in February
1816. The Bavarian government then sent him to an overcrowded school in Bamberg to help out with the teaching
of mathematics.

Georg Simon Ohm was born into a Protestant family in

Erlangen, Brandenburg-Bayreuth (then a part of the Holy
Roman Empire), son to Johann Wolfgang Ohm, a locksmith and Maria Elizabeth Beck, the daughter of a tailor
in Erlangen. Although his parents had not been formally
educated, Ohms father was a respected man who had educated himself to a high level and was able to give his
sons an excellent education through his own teachings.[1]
Of the seven children of the family only three survived
to adulthood: Georg Simon, his younger brother Martin,
who later became a well-known mathematician, and his
sister Elizabeth Barbara. His mother died when he was
ten.

After his assignment in Bamberg, Ohm sent his completed manuscript to King Wilhelm III of Prussia. The
King was satised with Ohms book, and oered Ohm
a position at the Jesuit Gymnasium of Cologne on 11
September 1817. This school had a reputation for good
science education and Ohm was required to teach physics
in addition to mathematics. The physics laboratory was
well-equipped, allowing Ohm to begin experiments in
physics. As the son of a locksmith, Ohm had some practical experience with mechanical devices.

From early childhood, Georg and Martin were taught

by their father who brought them to a high standard in
mathematics, physics, chemistry and philosophy. Georg
Simon attended Erlangen Gymnasium from age eleven to
fteen where he received little in the area of scientic
training, which sharply contrasted with the inspired instruction that both Georg and Martin received from their
father. This characteristic made the Ohms bear a resemblance to the Bernoulli family, as noted by Karl Christian
von Langsdorf, a professor at the University of Erlangen.

Ohm published Die galvanische Kette, mathematisch

bearbeitet (The Galvanic Circuit Investigated Mathemati1.2 Life in university
cally) in 1827. Ohms college did not appreciate his work
and Ohm resigned from his position. He then made an apGeorg Ohms father, concerned that his son was wast- plication to, and was employed by, the Polytechnic School
ing his educational opportunity, sent Ohm to Switzerland. of Nuremberg. Ohm arrived at the Polytechnic School of
There in September 1806 Ohm accepted a position as a Nuremberg in 1833, and in 1852 he became a professor
mathematics teacher in a school in Gottstadt bei Nidau. of experimental physics at the University of Munich.[2]
Karl Christian von Langsdorf left the University of Er- In 1849, Ohm published Beitrge zur Molecular-Physik,
langen in early 1809 to take up a post in the University (in English: Molecular Physics). In the preface of this
of Heidelberg and Ohm would have liked to have gone work he stated he hoped to write a second and third vol1

4 STUDY AND PUBLICATIONS

essary for an understanding of the rest of the work. While
his work greatly inuenced the theory and applications of
current electricity, it was coldly received at that time. It
is interesting that Ohm presents his theory as one of contiguous action, a theory which opposed the concept of
action at a distance. Ohm believed that the communication of electricity occurred between contiguous particles which is the term he himself used. The paper is
concerned with this idea, and in particular with illustrating the dierences in this scientic approach of Ohms
and the approaches of Joseph Fourier and Claude-Louis
Navier.[8]
A detailed study of the conceptual framework used by
Ohm in producing Ohms law has been presented by
Archibald.[9] The work of Ohm marked the early beginning of the subject of circuit theory, although this did not
become an important eld until the end of the century.[10]

3 Ohms acoustic law

Memorial for Ohm (by Wilhelm von Rmann) at the Technical
University of Munich, Campus Theresienstrasse

Further information: Ohms acoustic law

Ohms acoustic law, sometimes called the acoustic phase

law or simply Ohms law, states that a musical sound is
ume and if God gives me length of days for it, a fourth. perceived by the ear as a set of a number of constituent
However, on nding that an original discovery recorded pure harmonic tones. It is well known to be not quite
[11]
in it was being anticipated by a Swedish scientist he did true.
not publish it, stating: The episode has given a fresh and
deep sense for my mind to the saying 'Man proposes, and
God disposes. The project that gave the rst impetus to
my inquiry has been dissipated into mist, and a new one,
4 Study and publications
undesigned by me, has been accomplished in its place.[3]
He died in Munich in 1854,[2] and is buried in the Alter
Sdfriedhof. A collection of his family letters would be
compiled in a German book, which shows that he used to
sign some of his letters with the expression Gott befohlen,
G S Ohm, [4] meaning Commended to God.[5]

The discovery of Ohms law

Further information: Ohms Law

Ohms law rst appeared[note 1] in the famous book
Die galvanische Kette, mathematisch bearbeitet (tr.,
The Galvanic Circuit Investigated Mathematically)
(1827) in which he gave his complete theory of electricity. [2] In this work, he stated his law for electromotive
force acting between the extremities of any part of a
circuit is the product of the strength of the current, and
the resistance of that part of the circuit.[6][7]

His writings were numerous. The most important was his

pamphlet published in Berlin in 1827, with the title Die
galvanische Kette mathematisch bearbeitet. This work,
the germ of which had appeared during the two preceding years in the journals of Schweigger and Poggendor, has exerted an important inuence on the development of the theory and applications of electric current.
Ohms name has been incorporated in the terminology of
electrical science in Ohms Law (which he rst published
in Die galvanische Kette...), the proportionality of current
and voltage in a resistor, and adopted as the SI unit of
resistance, the ohm (symbol ).

Although Ohms work strongly inuenced theory, at rst

it was received with little enthusiasm. However, his work
was eventually recognized by the Royal Society with its
award of the Copley Medal in 1841.[12] He became a foreign member of the Royal Society in 1842, and in 1845 he
became a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. At some extent, Charles Wheatstone drew attention to the denitions which Ohm had
The book begins with the mathematical background nec- introduced in the eld of physics.[13]

4.1

Works

Grundlinien zu einer zweckmigen Behandlung der

Geometrie als hheren Bildungsmittels an vorbereitenden Lehranstalten / entworfen (Guidelines for an
appropriate treatment of geometry in higher education at preparatory institutes / notes)
Erlangen : Palm und Enke, 1817. XXXII,
224 S., II Faltbl. : graph. Darst. (PDF, 11.2
MB)
Die galvanische Kette : mathematisch bearbeitet (The
Galvanic Circuit Investigated Mathematically)
Berlin : Riemann, 1827. 245 S. : graph.
Darst. (PDF, 4.7 MB)
Elemente der analytischen Geometrie im Raume
am schiefwinkligen Coordinatensysteme (Elements of
analytic geometry concerning the skew coordinate
system)
Nrnberg : Schrag, 1849. XII, 590 S.
(Ohm, Georg S.: Beitrge zur MolecularPhysik ; 1) (PDF, 81 MB)

7 References
[1] Keithley, Joseph F. (1999). The Story of Electrical and
Magnetic Measurements: From 500 BC to the 1940s. John
Wiley & Sons
[2] Chisholm 1911.
[3] Kneller, Karl Alois; Kettle, Thomas Michael (1911).
Christianity and the leaders of modern science; a contribution to the history of culture in the nineteenth century.
Freiburg im Breisgau, pp. 1718
[4] Georg Simon Ohm (2002), Georg Simon Ohm: nachgelassene Schriften und Dokumente aus seinem Leben : mit
Schriftstcken seiner Vorfahren und Briefen seines Bruders
Martin. Palm und Enke. p. 216; 219
[5] Leopold von Ranke (1966), History of the Reformation in
Germany, Volume 2. F. Unger Publishing Company, p.
467
[6] Die galvanische kette: mathematisch By Georg Simon
Ohm Pg. 181
[7] The galvanic circuit investigated mathematically By Georg
Simon Ohm Pg. 202
[8] B. Pourprix, G. S. Ohm thoricien de l'action contigu,
Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences 45(134)
(1995), pp. 3056
[9] T Archibald, Tension and potential from Ohm to Kirchho, Centaurus 31 (2) (1988), pp. 141163

Grundzge der Physik als Compendium zu seinen

[10] Belevitch, V, Summary of the history of circuit theory,
Vorlesungen (Fundamentals of physics: ComProceedings of the IRE, vol 50, Iss 5, pp. 848855, May
pendium of lectures)
1962 doi:10.1109/JRPROC.1962.288301.
Nrnberg : Schrag, 1854. X, 563 S. : Ill.,
graph. Darst. Erschienen: Abth. 1 (1853) 2
(1854) (PDF, 38 MB)
Bibliography and PDF les of all articles and books
by Georg Simon Ohm

See also
Martin Ohm

[11] Robert Sekuler (1974). Spatial Vision. In Mark R.

Rosenzweig. Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 25. Annual Reviews Inc. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-8243-0225-2.
[12] Winners of the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of
London
[13] Merz, John Theodore (1903). A history of European
thought in the nineteenth century, pp. 365366

This article incorporates text from a publication now

in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
"Ohm, Georg Simon". Encyclopdia Britannica
(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Ohm (unit)

8 External links
6

Notes

[1] Ohms law, that electric current is proportional to a potential dierence, was rst discovered by Henry Cavendish,
but Cavendish did not publish his electrical discoveries in
his lifetime and they did not become known until 1879,
long after Ohm had independently made the discovery and
published himself. Thus the law came to bear the name
of Ohm.

Quotations related to Georg Ohm at Wikiquote

O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., Georg

Ohm, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive,
University of St Andrews.

"Ohm, Georg Simon". The American Cyclopdia. 1879.

9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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9.2

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