Life of Georg Simon Ohm

Essay by Enigma1College, UndergraduateA-, November 1996

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Georg Simon Ohm

At the time Georg Simon Ohm was born not much was known about electricity, he was out to change this. Georg grew up in Bavaria which is why most information about Georg is in German. There is even a College named after him: Georg-Simon-Ohm Fachhochschule Nuernberg. To much dismay not a whole lot has been written about him. Usually you will find a paragraph of the summary of his life. I hope to change this flaw in the history books by telling you as much as I could find on his life.

When Georg was growing up his dad, owner of a prosperous locksmith business, wanted young Georg to study mathematics before joining the family business. Georg attended a Gymnasium, like a college, in Erlangen, Bavaria (now Germany) . During his time at this Gymnasium a professor noticed how he excelled in math. This professor's name was Karl Christian von Langsdorf, Georg owes this man much credit from his recommendations to others.

After he graduated he took a job teaching mathematics at Erlangen University in 1805. He spent the next years looking for a better teaching position. He found what he was looking for in 1817 when a job was made available to him at Cologne Gymnasium. He now looked to research electrical current. In 1827 he published Die galvanishce Kette, mathematisch bearbeit (The Galvanic Circuit, Mathematically Treated). This was a mathematical description of conduction in circuits modeled after Fourier's study of heat conduction. This is also known as Ohm's Law.

Ohm's Law, which is Georg's greatest accomplishment, started as an experiment. The experiment's purpose was to find the relationship between current and the length of the wire carrying it. Ohm's results proved that as the wire increased the current decreased.

Ohm came up with a formula...