Georg Ohm

Biography

Georg Simon Ohm was born in Erlangen, the son of a locksmith. He received home education, then studied at the University of Erlangen, but did not complete the course due to financial difficulties. He worked as a mathematics and physics teacher in various schools. In 1826 he published his main work, “Determination of the Law According to which Metals Conduct Contact Electricity,” in which he formulated Ohm's law. His discovery was not immediately recognized; it was only in 1841 that the Royal Society of London awarded him the Copley Medal. From 1849 he was a professor at the University of Munich.

Key discoveries

• Ohm's law: the current in a conductor is directly proportional to the applied voltage and inversely proportional to the resistance (I = V/R).
• Introduction of the concepts of electromotive force, voltage drop, and resistance as characteristics of a conductor.
• Experimental investigation of the conductivity of various metals and the effect of temperature on resistance.