André-Marie Ampère

French physicist and mathematician (1775–1836)

Fame74.5
Momentum15.0
France rank#178

Source-basedFalling

Fame74.5
Momentum15.0
France rank#178
Scientists rank#35
Wikipedia16.7K

Lived 1775–1836, aged 61France

France ScientistsScientist

Wikipedia
107 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in France
#178
Scientists
Era
1775–1836
Aged 61
Awards
3
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

His name is the unit: every amp of current flowing through every circuit everywhere carries it. He built the mathematics that made electricity predictable, coined "electrodynamics," and turned invisible force into engineering.

Biography

About

Born 20 January 1775, Ampère taught himself mathematics and physics without formal schooling. After witnessing Hans Christian Ørsted's 1820 demonstration that electric current deflects a compass needle, he spent months working out the mathematical laws governing the relationship between electricity and magnetism—the foundation of classical electromagnetism. He invented the solenoid, named it, and contributed to early electrical telegraphy. The French Academy of Sciences made him a member; he taught at the École polytechnique and the Collège de France. He also coined "cinématique" (kinematic in…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from André-Marie Ampère

André-Marie Ampère

saidundated

Either one or the other [ analysis or synthesis ] may be direct or indirect.

— André-Marie Ampè, in André-Marie Ampère: Enlightenment and Electrodynamics, Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 159

André-Marie Ampère

saidundated

There is synthesis when, in combining therein judgments that are made known to us from simpler relations, one deduces judgments from them relative to more complicated relations.

— André-Marie Ampère in: André-Marie Ampère: Enlightenment and Electrodynamics, Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 158.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Gallery