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Charles-Augustin de Coulomb

1736–1806 · Physics, Electrostatics, Mechanics, Engineering
French military engineer and physicist, best known for discovering Coulomb's law, which describes the force of electrostatic interaction between charged particles. His work laid the foundations of electrostatics and the theory of elasticity.

Biography

Charles-Augustin de Coulomb was born in Angoulême, France. He studied at the Paris School of Engineering in Mézières, after which he served as a military engineer in the West Indies. Returning to France, he held various engineering positions and worked on fortification construction. In 1781 he became a member of the French Academy of Sciences. During the Revolution, he retired to Blois, where he continued his scientific research. His main work—memoirs on electricity and magnetism—was published between 1785 and 1789. He also studied friction, the stiffness of threads, and the operation of windmills.

Key discoveries

💡 Coulomb built his famous torsion balance from improvised materials, including a silk thread, and used it to measure extremely small forces, which allowed him to discover the law of interaction of charges.
Concepts
electromagnetismgravity
Laws
Coulomb's law
Scientists
Robert HookeJacob BekensteinJames Clerk MaxwellKarl SchwarzschildJoseph WeberShuji NakamuraWilhelm WienAlbert A. Michelson

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