Ten fun facts about Andre Marie Ampère

Fact 1
He is generally regarded as one of the main founders of the science of classical electromagnetism, which he referred to as "electrodynamics".

Fact 2
The SI unit of measurement of electric current, the ampere, is named after him.

Fact 3
He invented the astatic needle, a critical component of the modern astatis galvanometer.

Fact 4
He was the first to demonstrate that a magnetic field is generated when two parallel wires are charged with electricity.

Fact 5
A polymath, his reading embraced history, travels, poetry, philosophy, and the natural sciences.

Fact 6
In 1827 Ampère was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society.

Fact 7
In 1828, he was elected as a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science.

Fact 8
In recognition of his contribution to the creation of modern electrical science, an international convention signed in 1881 established the ampere as a standard unit of electrical measurement, along with the coulomb, volt, ohm, and watt, which are named, respectively, after Ampère’s contemporaries Charles-Augustin de Coulomb of France, Alessandro Volta of Italy, Georg Ohm of Germany, and James Watt of Scotland.

Fact 9
His name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.

Fact 10
On his deathbed in 1836, Ampère ordered that an inscription be placed upon his tombstone: Tandem Felix (Happy at Last).

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