André Marie Ampère is a scientist of the new era. Biography of Andre-Marie Ampère

André-Marie Ampère, born January 20, 1775 in Lyon, was the second child of the wealthy merchant Jean-Jacques Ampère and his wife Jeanne Antoinette Desutier-Sarse Ampère. The boy's father did not believe in academic education, and therefore wanted his son to "learn from nature itself." Jean Jacques Ampère reads the philosophical works of Jean Jacques Rousseau, and these theories form the basis of André's education. Almost all childhood, the father was always next to his son and guided him in his studies. Young Ampere shows great interest in mathematics and geometry, but, to his great regret, too few books on these sciences are found in his home library. And then the father takes his son to the city library of Lyon, and it was impossible to think of a better place for the boy. The only obstacle to the desired knowledge is that most of the works are written in Latin. To satisfy his interest in mathematics, Ampère decides to study Latin. The boy grew up on the works of Leonhard Euler and Daniel Bernoulli.

Personal life

When the French Revolution entered its decisive stage, Ampère was still very young, and everything that happened left a deep imprint on his soul. After the formation of a new revolutionary government, his father was elected justice of the peace in Lyon. But the revolution leads to a whole series of tragic events in his life. Due to political differences, Jean Jacques was arrested, and on November 24, 1793, he was sent to the guillotine. André takes the death of his father so hard that he even leaves the study of “Mécanique analytique” (“Analytical Mechanics”) and abandons mathematics for eight whole months.

He returns to life only when he meets Julie, whom he falls in love with at first sight. The engagement of André Marie Ampère and Julie Carron took place in 1797, and in order to provide the future family with a decent financial position, the groom undertakes to give lessons in mathematics. In 1799, Andre and Julie get married, and in 1800 their son is born, to whom the parents give the name Jean-Jacques.

Teacher's wanderings

Ampère continued to give lessons, and in 1802 he was offered to become a teacher of mathematics and chemistry at the Central School of Bourges. Although both sciences are in his charge, Ampère directs his main efforts precisely to mathematics. His studies in the "theory of probability" in 1803 lead him to the Paris Academy, where he presents his work "The Mathematical Theory of Games". But in July of the same year, another personal tragedy occurred in his life: to his great grief, his Julie, who suffered from poor health, died. Staying in Lyon, where everything reminds of his beloved wife, is already unbearable, and Ampère finally moves to Paris. By that time, he had already earned recognition both for his teaching abilities and for his talent as a researcher in the field of mathematics. And so, in 1804, he entered the service at the Polytechnic School as a "répétiteur" (junior teacher).

In 1809, Ampère, despite the fact that he was self-taught, received the title of professor, which was greatly facilitated by his teaching reputation. He would hold this post until 1828. Professor Ampere would even begin to lecture at the University of Paris on philosophy and astronomy, in 1819 and 1820, respectively. The next turning point in his work in the field of science was his admission to the Academy of Sciences in 1814.

Works in the field of electrodynamics

In September 1820, at one of the meetings of the French Academy of Sciences, Ampère and his comrades in the workshop were presented with the amazing discovery of the Danish physicist Hans Oersted in the field of electrodynamics. This discovery concerns the action exerted by an electric wire on a magnetized needle. This, in turn, awakens the curiosity of Ampere, who, continuing the experiment, explores the relationship of electricity and magnetism. In two weeks, he will publish the results of his experiments, which showed that two parallel wires carrying an electric current attract each other if the current goes in the same direction, and mutually repel each other if the current goes in opposite directions. The discovery turns out to be revolutionary and will form the basis of the emerging electrodynamics. Ampere continues to experiment, and all the results are included in the weekly reports for the academy. Later they will be published in the work "Chronicles of Experiments in Chemistry and Physics", which is considered the first work on electrodynamics. He will present the following scientific notes to the public in 1822. All studies and the results of Ampère's experiments are widely disseminated, and in 1826 his most significant work is published - "Scientific Essay on the Mathematical Theory of Electrodynamic Phenomena". This publication was the source of many ideas of the XIX century regarding the interaction of electricity and magnetism. This work was guided by such scientists as Faraday, Weber, Thomson and Maxwell. In search of a suitable name for a new field of science, the term "electrodynamics" appears for the first time. In 1827, Ampère was elected a foreign member of the Royal Society, and in 1828 a foreign member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Sweden.

Death and legacy

In the last years of his life, Ampère suffered from mental disorders and was disgusted with almost all knowledge, and especially with mathematics and other sciences. On June 10, 1836, in Marseilles, he was stricken with a fever that caused his death. The name of Ampere, which entered science as one of the founders of electromagnetism, was immortalized in 1881 by the signing of an international convention, according to which a new unit of measurement of electrical parameters "ampere" was established. Since then, "ampere" has been the generally accepted unit of measure for the strength of electric current. The last work of the scientist, “Essai sur la philisophie des sciences” (“Analytical presentation of the natural classification of all the knowledge of mankind”), was posthumously published by his son, Jean-Jacques Ampère, who by that time had become an eminent literary critic and writer.

André-Marie Ampère (fr. Andre Marie Ampere; January 22, 1775 - June 10, 1836) - the famous French physicist, mathematician and naturalist, member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1814). Member of many academies of sciences, in particular foreign honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1830). James Maxwell called Ampère the "Newton of electricity".

short biography

Ampère was born in Lyon and was educated at home. After the death of his father, who was guillotined in 1793, Ampère was first a tutor at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, then he held the chair of physics at Bourg, and from 1805 the chair of mathematics at the Paris Polytechnic School, where he also distinguished himself in the literary field, first speaking with essay: "Considerations sur la theorie mathematique du jeu" ("Discourses on the mathematical theory of games", Lyon, 1802).

In 1814 he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences, and from 1824 he held the post of professor of experimental physics at the College de France. Ampère died on June 10, 1836 in Marseille.

His name is included in the list of the greatest scientists of France, placed on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower.

André Marie's son, Jean-Jacques Ampère (1800-1864), was a renowned philologist.

Scientific activity

Mathematics, mechanics and physics owe important research to Ampère. His main physical work was done in the field of electrodynamics. In 1820 he established a rule for determining the direction of action of a magnetic field on a magnetic needle, now known as Ampère's rule; conducted many experiments to study the interaction between a magnet and an electric current; for these purposes created a number of devices; discovered that the Earth's magnetic field affects moving conductors with current. In the same year, he discovered the interaction between electric currents, formulated the law of this phenomenon (Ampère's law), developed the theory of magnetism, and proposed using electromagnetic processes for signal transmission.

According to Ampere's theory, magnetic interactions are the result of interactions occurring in bodies of the so-called circular molecular currents, equivalent to small flat magnets, or magnetic sheets. This statement is called Ampere's theorem. Thus, a large magnet, according to Ampère, consists of many such elementary magnets. This is the essence of the scientist's deep conviction in the purely current origin of magnetism and its close connection with electrical processes.

In 1822, Ampere discovered the magnetic effect of a solenoid (coil with current), from which the idea of the equivalence of a solenoid to a permanent magnet followed. They also proposed to amplify the magnetic field using an iron core placed inside the solenoid. Ampere's ideas were presented by him in the works "Code of Electrodynamic Observations" (French "Recueil d'observations electrodynamiques", Paris, 1822), "A Short Course in the Theory of Electrodynamic Phenomena" (French "Precis de la theorie des phenomenes electrodynamiques", Paris, 1824), "The Theory of Electrodynamic Phenomena" (French "Theorie des phenomenes electrodynamiques"). In 1829 Ampère invented such devices as the commutator and the electromagnetic telegraph.

In mechanics, he owns the formulation of the term "kinematics".

In 1830, he introduced the term "cybernetics" into scientific circulation.

Ampere's versatile talent left a mark on the history of the development of chemistry, which gives him one of the pages of honor and considers him, together with Avogadro, the author of the most important law of modern chemistry.

In honor of the scientist, the unit of electric current strength is called "ampere", and the corresponding measuring instruments are called "ammeters".

Some of Ampère's studies relate to botany as well as to philosophy, in particular "Sketches on the Philosophy of Science" (French "Essais sur la philosophie des Sciences", 2 vols., 1834-43; 2nd edition, 1857).

André Marie Ampère (1775 - 1836) - French physicist, mathematician, chemist, member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1814), foreign member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1830), one of the founders of electrodynamics. An outstanding scientist in whose honor one of the main electrical quantities is named - the unit of current strength - ampere. The author of the term "electrodynamics" as the name of the doctrine of electricity and magnetism, one of the founders of this doctrine.

The main works of Ampere in the field of electrodynamics. The author of the first theory of magnetism. He proposed a rule for determining the direction of the magnetic field on a magnetic needle (Ampère's rule).

Ampère conducted a number of experiments to study the interaction between electric current and a magnet, for which he designed a large number of devices. He discovered the effect of the Earth's magnetic field on moving conductors with current.

He discovered (1820) the mechanical interaction of currents and established the law of this interaction (Ampère's law). He reduced all magnetic interactions to the interaction of circular molecular electric currents hidden in bodies, equivalent to flat magnets (Ampère's theorem). He argued that a large magnet consists of a huge number of elementary flat magnets. Consistently pursued the purely current nature of magnetism.

André Marie Ampère discovered (1822) the magnetic effect of a current coil (solenoid). He expressed the idea of the equivalence of a solenoid with current and a permanent magnet. He proposed to place a metal core made of soft iron to enhance the magnetic field. He expressed the idea of using electromagnetic phenomena to transmit information (1820). Ampère invented the commutator, the electromagnetic telegraph (1829). He formulated the concept of "kinematics". He also did research in philosophy and botany.

Childhood and youth

The ancestors of André Marie Ampère were artisans who lived in the vicinity of Lyon. Their professional and cultural level quickly increased from generation to generation, and the great-grandfather of the scientist, Jean Joseph, was not only an experienced stonemason, but also performed complex construction and restoration work, and his son Francois had already become a typical enlightened urban bourgeois, a representative of a rather prosperous third estate, and married a noblewoman. Andre Marie's father, Jean-Jacques Ampère, received a good education, spoke ancient languages, made himself an excellent library, and was keenly interested in the ideas of the Enlightenment. Raising children, he was inspired by the pedagogical principles of Jean Jacques Rousseau. His political ideal was a constitutional monarchy.

The revolution found Jean-Jacques Ampère in the post of royal prosecutor and royal adviser in Lyon, which had been bought shortly before. The fall of the Bastille was greeted with enthusiasm by the Ampère family. But soon disaster struck. Jean Jacques held moderate views, and paid for it. In Lyons, a fierce Jacobin, obsessed with mystical ideas, began to rage, who slandered innocent people and, in the name of the revolution, along with his henchmen, brought down punishments on them. The Lyons rebelled against the atrocities of the Jacobins, the uprising was crushed and the Girondin Jean Jacques Ampère (although his actions, in fact, were just dictated by the intention to save the Jacobin leaders from the fury of the crowd) was guillotined on November 24, 1793. It was a terrible shock for André Marie and his entire family (besides, they recently suffered another stroke - Antoinette, the eldest of the sisters, died of tuberculosis).

Ampere had no other teachers, he never went to school, he did not pass a single exam in his whole life. But he constantly drew a lot from books. And Ampère did not just read, he studied, creatively assimilating what he read. It is no coincidence that already at the age of 12-14 he began to submit mathematical memoirs to the Lyon Academy, wrote scientific works on botany, invented new kite designs, worked on the creation of a new international language, and even combined all this with the composition of an epic poem.

The suffered mental trauma for almost two years unsettled Andre Marie. Only by the age of 20 does he regain his craving for books and knowledge. But Ampere still, in the opinion of many others, behaves strangely. Often wanders alone, clumsy and slovenly dressed, sometimes loudly and measuredly chanting Latin verses, or talking to himself. In addition, he is very short-sighted (he only finds out about this by purchasing glasses, which was a significant event for him!).

Probably one of the main impulses that brought Ampere back to active life was his meeting with the golden-haired Catherine Carron. Ampère fell in love with the cut and forever, but consent to the wedding was achieved only after three years. Ampere was greatly supported by Eliza, Catherine's sister, who understood and appreciated his rare spiritual qualities earlier than others. In August 1800, the son of the Ampères was born, who was named Jean Jacques in honor of his grandfather.

In Bourg and Lyon

Even before his marriage, André Ampère began teaching, giving private lessons in mathematics. Now he has managed to secure a position as a teacher at the Burg Central School. Having passed an interview at the Commission in February 1802, he was recognized as prepared to conduct classes. The situation in the Burg school was miserable, and Ampère tried to at least slightly improve the physics and chemistry classrooms, although neither the school nor, moreover, the teacher had the money for this. The salary was very small, and I had to live separately from my wife and child, who remained in Lyon. Although Ampère's mother could help in any way she could, he had to look for additional income, giving more lessons in the private boarding house of Duprat and Olivier.

Despite the heavy teaching load, Ampère does not leave his scientific work. It was at this time, in an introductory lecture at the Central School in 1802, and even earlier - at a meeting of the Lyon Academy, in the presence of Volta, that he first expressed the idea that magnetic and electrical phenomena can be explained on the basis of uniform principles.

His efforts in the field of mathematics do not weaken either. This is where research on probability theory comes to the fore. They were noticed at the Academy of Sciences, where, in particular, Pierre Simon Laplace drew attention to them. This was the basis for recognizing Ampère as suitable for a teaching position at the then opening Lyon Lyceum. His candidacy was put forward by D'Alembert. In April 1803, by decree of the Consulate, Ampère was appointed to the position of a lyceum teacher he desired. However, Ampère remained in Lyon for less than two years.

Already in mid-October 1804, he was enrolled as a tutor at the Polytechnic School in Paris and moved there.

First decade in Paris

The move to Paris took place shortly after Ampère was widowed. The loss of his adored wife plunged him into despair and religious confusion. Perhaps that is also why Ampère, despite the pleas of his mother, hastened to leave Lyon in order to begin teaching in Paris at the Polytechnic School organized ten years ago.

Starting to work as a tutor, Ampere already in 1807 began independent studies, and soon he became a professor of mathematical analysis. Soon the 24-year-old Arago appeared at the Polytechnic School, with whom Ampère later carried out important joint research. The attitude towards Ampère of his colleagues, among whom there were quite a few really great scientists, was quite benevolent, his work was going well, but the emotional wound inflicted by the loss of his wife was excruciating. Driven by the best feelings, Ampere's friends introduced him to the family, which included a daughter "marriageable", 26-year-old Jeanne Francoise. The gullible, simple-hearted and defenseless in his naivete Ampère soon became a victim of the merchant's greed and gross egoism of this woman and her entire family, who after a while was simply kicked out of the house, and he had to find temporary shelter in the Ministry of the Interior.

The number of Ampère's professional duties meanwhile increased. He was appointed to the post of professor of mathematical analysis and examiner in mechanics in the first department of the Polytechnic School, worked (until 1810) in the Advisory Bureau of Arts and Crafts, and from the autumn of 1808 as the chief inspector of the university. This last work, which Ampère was forced to take on due to straitened material circumstances, required constant traveling and took up a particularly large amount of time and effort. He gave this exhausting work 28 years, and the last business trip ended on the road to Marseille in 1836 with his death.

Overwork and everyday hardships could not but affect the scientific productivity of Ampère. This is especially noticeable in his research in the field of mathematics, although he retained the honorary right to attend meetings of the Academy of Sciences and present his memoirs. To a lesser extent, the decline in scientific activity affected chemistry, with prominent representatives of which Ampère fruitfully communicated. Almost all of 1808 he was fascinated by ideas that later began to be attributed to the field of atomism.

But the period of a sharp rise in scientific activity, the time of his main achievements, turned out to be the years after his election in 1814 to the Academy of Sciences.

After being elected to the Academy

Ampère was elected a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences in the Geometry Section on November 28, 1814. The range of his scientific and pedagogical interests had already been fully defined by that time, and nothing, it would seem, foreshadowed noticeable changes here. But the time for these changes was already approaching, the second decade of the nineteenth century, the time of the most important scientific achievements of Ampère, was approaching. In 1820, Ampere learned about the experiments that had been carried out shortly before by the Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted. He discovered that the current flowing through the wire affects the magnetic needle located near the wire.

On September 4 and 11, Arago made a report in Paris about these works of Oersted and even repeated some of his experiments. This, however, did not arouse much interest among academicians, but Ampere was completely captured. Contrary to his custom, he spoke here not only as a theoretician, but in a small room of his modest apartment he took up experiments, for which he even made a table with his own hands; this relic is preserved to this day in the College de France. He put aside all other business and on September 18 and 25, 1820 made his first reports on electromagnetism. In fact, during these two weeks, Ampère arrived at his most important scientific results. The influence of these works of Ampère on many branches of science - from the physics of the atom and elementary particles to electrical engineering and geophysics - cannot be overestimated.

In 1785-88. Charles Augustin Coulomb conducted his classic experimental studies of the laws of interaction between electric charges and magnetic poles. These experiments were in line with that grandiose scientific program, which was outlined by the works of Newton himself, having as a great model the law of universal gravitation, to study all possible types of forces existing in nature.

It seemed to many at that time that there was a complete parallelism between electricity and magnetism: that there are electric charges, but there are also magnetic charges, and the world of electrical phenomena has a similar world of magnetic phenomena in everything. Oersted's discovery was then interpreted by many in such a way that under the action of a current, the wire through which this current flows is magnetized, and therefore acts on a magnetic needle. Ampere put forward a fundamentally new, radical and even, at first glance, bold idea: there are no magnetic charges in nature at all, there are only electric charges, and magnetism arises only due to the movement of electric charges, i.e. due to electric currents .

Nearly two hundred years have passed since Ampère came up with this hypothesis, and it would seem that it is time to find out whether he was right (and then the name “hypothesis” becomes inappropriate), or whether it should be abandoned. First impression: Ampère's hypothesis is contradicted even by the very fact of the existence of permanent magnets: after all, there seem to be no currents responsible for the occurrence of magnetism here! Ampère objects: magnetism is generated by a huge number of tiny electric atomic current circuits (one can only be amazed that such a profound idea could have appeared at a time when not only did they not know anything about the structure of atoms, but even the word “electron” did not even exist yet!) Each such circuit acts as a "magnetic sheet" - an elementary magnetic two-terminal network. This explains why magnetic charges of the same sign - "magnetic monopoles", unlike electric monopoles, do not occur in nature.

Why is it still a "hypothesis"? After all, more than once it seemed that “magnets” had been found in which there were no electric charges. Take, for example, the neutron. This particle has zero electric charge, but has a magnetic moment. Again a "moment", i.e., again a magnetic two-terminal network, and its appearance is again explained in the current theory of elementary particles by "microscopic" currents, only now not inside the atom, but inside the neutron. So is it possible to confidently assert that magnetism is always generated by the movement of electric charges? Ampere's hypothesis in such a pointed formulation is not accepted by all theorists. Moreover, some versions of the theory say that magnetic monopoles (“single-poles”) should appear, but only at huge energies that are unattainable for us today.

Ampère's hypothesis was an important fundamental step towards establishing the idea of the unity of nature. But it posed a number of new questions for researchers. First of all, it was necessary to give a complete and closed theory of the interaction of currents. Ampère himself solved this problem with genuine brilliance, acting as a theoretician and as an experimenter. To find how currents interact in various circuits, he had to formulate the laws of the magnetic interaction of individual elements of the current ("Ampère's Law") and the effect of currents on magnets ("Ampère's rule"). In essence, a new science of electricity and magnetism was created, and even the term "Electrodynamics" was introduced by one of the remarkable scientists of the past, André Marie Ampère. (V. I. Grigoriev)

More about André Marie Ampère:

The French scientist Ampère is known in the history of science mainly as the founder of electrodynamics. Meanwhile, he was a universal scientist, having merits in the field of mathematics, chemistry, biology, and even in linguistics and philosophy. He was a brilliant mind, striking with his encyclopedic knowledge of all the people who knew him closely.

Andre's exceptional abilities manifested themselves at an early age. He never went to school, but he learned reading and arithmetic very quickly. The boy read everything in a row that he found in his father's library. Already at the age of 14, he read all twenty-eight volumes of the French Encyclopedia. Andre showed particular interest in the physical and mathematical sciences. But just in this area, his father's library was clearly not enough, and Andre began to visit the library of Lyon College to read the works of great mathematicians.

Parents invited a mathematics teacher to Andre. Already at the first meeting, he understood what an extraordinary student he was dealing with. “Do you know how the extraction of roots is carried out?” he asked Andre. “No,” the boy replied, “but I can integrate!” Soon the teacher abandoned the lessons, as his knowledge was clearly not enough to teach such a student.

The study of the works of the classics of mathematics and physics was a creative process for the young Ampère. He not only read, but also critically perceived what he read. He had his own thoughts, his original ideas. It was during this period, at the age of thirteen, that he presented his first works in mathematics to the Lyon Academy.

In 1789 the Great French bourgeois revolution began. These events played a tragic role in the life of Ampère. In 1793, a rebellion broke out in Lyon, which was soon suppressed. For sympathy with the rebels, Jean-Jacques Ampère was beheaded. Andre experienced the death of his father very hard; he was close to losing his mind Only a year later, with difficulty finding peace of mind, he was able to return to his studies.

The execution of the father had other consequences. By a court verdict, almost all of the family's property was confiscated, and her financial situation deteriorated sharply. Andre had to think about his livelihood. He decided to move to Lyon and give private lessons in mathematics until he could get a job as a full-time teacher in any educational institution.

In 1799, Ampère married Catherine Carron. The following year they had a son, named after his father - Jean-Jacques. He later became one of the most famous historians of French literature. This joyful event was overshadowed by Catherine's illness. The cost of living has risen steadily. Despite all the efforts and savings, the funds earned by private lessons were not enough. Finally, in 1802, Ampère was invited to teach physics and chemistry at the Central School of the ancient provincial town of Bourg-en-Bress, sixty kilometers from Lyon. From that moment began his regular teaching activity, which continued throughout his life.

Ampère dreamed of restructuring the traditional teaching of physics. Instead - boring teachers-officials, a wretched laboratory and a poor physical office, everyday everyday worries. However, he worked hard, filling in the gaps in his knowledge. At the same time, he did not leave the hope of returning to Lyon to his wife and son. And soon it came true. On April 4, 1803, Ampère was appointed teacher of mathematics at the Lyceum of Lyon. Happy, he returned to Lyon, but soon a heavy blow fell on Ampère - his wife died.

At the end of 1804, Ampère left Lyon and moved to Paris, where he received a teaching position at the famous Polytechnic School. This higher school was organized in 1794 and soon became the national pride of France. The main task of the school was to train highly educated technical specialists with deep knowledge of physical and mathematical sciences.

In Paris, Ampère felt lonely. He was entirely at the mercy of the memories of his short happy life. This is the main theme of his letters to relatives and friends. He had previously been known as an eccentric and absent-minded person. Now, these traits of his character have become even more noticeable. To them was added excessive imbalance. All this prevented him from presenting well to his listeners the material that he actually mastered excellently.

Several important events happened in Ampère's life at this time: in 1806 he entered into a second marriage, in 1807 he was appointed professor at the Polytechnic School. In 1808, the scientist received the post of chief inspector of universities. All this improved his financial situation and brought some peace, but not for long. The second marriage was very unsuccessful, his new wife Jenny Poto turned out to be a very absurd and limited person. Ampère made many efforts to somehow reconcile with her in the name of the daughter born of this marriage. However, his efforts were in vain. New experiences were added to experiences on this basis - in 1809, Ampere's mother died. These unfortunate events could not but affect his scientific activity. Nevertheless, between 1809 and 1814 Ampère published several valuable papers on the theory of series.

The heyday of Ampere's scientific activity falls on 1814-1824 and is mainly associated with the Academy of Sciences, to which he was elected on November 28, 1814 for his merits in the field of mathematics.

Almost until 1820, the main interests of the scientist focused on the problems of mathematics, mechanics and chemistry. At that time, he was very little involved in physics issues: only two works of this period are known, devoted to optics and the molecular-kinetic theory of gases. As for mathematics, it was in this area that Ampère achieved results that gave grounds to nominate him as a candidate for the Academy in the mathematical department.

Ampere always considered mathematics as a powerful tool for solving various applied problems of physics and technology. Already his first published mathematical work, devoted to the theory of probability, was essentially applied in nature and was called Considerations on the Mathematical Theory of Games (1802). Questions of the theory of probability interested him in the future.

In the study of many problems in physics and mechanics, the so-called partial differential equations are of great importance. The solution of such equations is associated with significant mathematical difficulties, which were overcome by the greatest mathematicians. Ampère also made his contribution to mathematical physics, as this branch of science is called. In 1814 alone, he completed several works that were highly appreciated by prominent French mathematicians, in particular, Dallas, Lagrange and Poisson.

He does not leave chemistry classes either. His achievements in the field of chemistry include the discovery, independently of Amedeo Avogadro, of the law of equality of the molar volumes of various gases. It should rightly be called the Avogadro-Ampere law. The scientist also made the first attempt to classify chemical elements based on a comparison of their properties. But it was not these studies, interesting in themselves, and not his mathematical work that made the name of Ampère famous. He became a classic of science, a world famous scientist thanks to his research in the field of electromagnetism.

In 1820, the Danish physicist G.-H. Oersted discovered that a magnetic needle deviates near a current-carrying conductor. Thus, a remarkable property of electric current was discovered - to create a magnetic field. Ampère studied this phenomenon in detail. A new view of the nature of magnetic phenomena arose from him as a result of a whole series of experiments. Already at the end of the first week of hard work, he made a discovery of no less importance than Oersted - he discovered the interaction of currents.

Ampere found that two parallel wires carrying current in the same direction attract each other, and if the directions of the currents are opposite, the wires repel. Ampere explained this phenomenon by the interaction of magnetic fields that create currents. The effect of the interaction of wires with current and magnetic fields is now used in electric motors, in electrical relays and in many electrical measuring instruments.

Ampère immediately reported the results to the Academy. In a report made on September 18, 1820, he demonstrated his first experiments and concluded them with the following words: "In this regard, I reduced all magnetic phenomena to purely electrical effects." At a meeting on September 25, he developed these ideas further, demonstrating experiments in which spirals flowed around by current (solenoids) interacted with each other like magnets.

Ampere's new ideas were not understood by all scientists. Some of his eminent colleagues did not agree with them either. Contemporaries said that after the first report of Ampere on the interaction of conductors with current, the following curious episode occurred. “What, in fact, is new in what you told us? one of his opponents asked Ampere. “It goes without saying that if two currents have an effect on a magnetic needle, then they also have an effect on each other.” Ampère did not immediately find an answer to this objection. But then Arago came to his aid. He took out two keys from his pocket and said: “Now, each of them also has an effect on the arrow, but they do not affect each other in any way, and therefore your conclusion is erroneous. Ampere discovered, in essence, a new phenomenon, of much greater significance than the discovery of Professor Oersted, respected by me.

Despite the attacks of their scientific opponents. Ampère continued his experiments. He decided to find the law of interaction of currents in the form of a strict mathematical formula and found this law, which now bears his name. So step by step in the works of Ampère a new science grew up - electrodynamics, based on experiments and mathematical theory. All the main ideas of this science, in the words of James Maxwell, in fact, “came out of the head of this Newton of electricity” in two weeks.

From 1820 to 1826, Ampère published a number of theoretical and experimental works on electrodynamics, and at almost every meeting of the Physics Department of the Academy he delivered a report on this topic. In 1826, his final classic work, The Theory of Electrodynamic Phenomena Derived Exclusively from Experience, was published. The work on this book took place under very difficult conditions. In one of the letters written at that time. Ampere reported: “I am forced to stay awake late at night ... Being loaded with two courses of lectures, I, however, do not want to completely abandon my work on voltaic conductors and magnets. I have a few minutes."

Ampère's fame grew rapidly, and scientists were especially flattering about his experimental work on electromagnetism. He was visited by famous physicists, he received a number of invitations from other countries to make presentations on his work. But his health was undermined, and his financial situation was unstable. He was burdened by work at the Polytechnic School and inspector duties. He still dreamed of teaching a course in physics, not mathematics, and reading in an unconventional way, including a new section in the course - electrodynamics, of which he himself was the creator. The most suitable place for this was one of the oldest educational institutions in France - the College de France. After many troubles and intrigues, in 1824 Ampère was elected to the post of professor at the College de France. He was given the chair of general and experimental physics.

The last years of Amper's life were overshadowed by many family and work troubles, which seriously affected his already poor health. External signs of success did not bring material well-being. He was still forced to spend a lot of time lecturing to the detriment of his scientific pursuits. But he did not leave science.

In 1835, Ampère published a work in which he proved the similarity between light and thermal radiation and showed that all radiation is converted into heat when absorbed. Ampere's passion for geology and biology dates back to this time. He took an active part in the scientific disputes between the famous scientists Cuvier and St. Iller, the forerunners of the evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin, and published two biological works in which he presented his point of view on the evolutionary process. At one of the disputes, opponents of the idea of evolution of living nature asked Ampère whether he really believed that man had descended from a snail. To this, Ampère replied: "I am convinced that man arose according to a law common to all animals."

Another passion of Ampère was the classification of sciences. This important methodological and general scientific problem has interested Ampère for a long time, since the time of his work at Bourg-en-Bresse. He developed his own classification system of sciences, which he intended to present in a two-volume essay. In 1834, the first volume of "Experiences in the Philosophy of Sciences or an Analytical Presentation of the Natural Classification of All Human Knowledge" was published. The second volume was published by Ampère's son after his death.

Ampère was a great master of inventing new scientific terms. It was he who introduced into the everyday life of scientists such words as "electrostatics", "electrodynamics", "solenoid". Ampère suggested that in the future, a new science of the general laws of management processes is likely to emerge. He proposed to call it "cybernetics" Ampère's prediction came true.

Ampere, André Marie

André Marie Ampère - French physicist, mathematician and chemist, one of the founders of electrodynamics. Born in Lyon in an aristocratic family; was educated at home. In 1801 he took the chair of physics at the Central School of Bourg-en-Bress, in 1805-1824. worked at the Polytechnic School in Paris (from 1809 - professor), from 1824 - professor at the College de France. Member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1814) and many other academies, in particular the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1834).

The main scientific works are devoted to physics, primarily electrodynamics; some studies also apply to mathematics, chemistry, philosophy, psychology, linguistics, zoology and botany. In 1802 he published his work "Considerations on the Mathematical Theory of Games". He was engaged in applications of the calculus of variations to mechanics (in particular, he proved the principle of possible displacements). Simultaneously with A. Avogadro, he expressed (1814) close to modern ideas about the relationship between the concepts of atom and molecule. In 1820, he formulated the "swimmer's rule" (otherwise Ampère's rule) to determine the direction of the action of the magnetic field of the current on the magnetic needle. He performed many experiments to study the interaction between electric current and a magnet, having designed several devices for this. He discovered the influence of the Earth's magnetic field on moving conductors with current. He discovered the interaction of electric currents and established the law of this interaction (Ampère's law), developed the theory of magnetism (1820). According to his theory, all magnetic interactions are reduced to the interaction of the so-called circular electric molecular currents hidden in bodies, each of which is equivalent to a flat magnet - a magnetic sheet (Ampère's theorem). According to Ampère, a large magnet consists of a huge number of such elementary flat magnets. Thus, Ampère was the first to point out the close "genetic" connection between electric and magnetic processes and consistently pursued the purely current idea of the origin of magnetism. He discovered (1822) the magnetic effect of a current-carrying coil - a solenoid, concluded that a solenoid streamed with current is the equivalent of a permanent magnet, put forward the idea of strengthening the magnetic field by placing an iron core made of soft iron inside the solenoid. In 1820, he proposed using electromagnetic phenomena for signal transmission. Invented the commutator, the electromagnetic telegraph (1829). He formulated the concept of "kinematics".

For the first time after the ancient Greeks, in 1834 he introduced the term "cybernetics" in the classification of sciences he proposed to denote the science of the general laws of control of complex systems. Developed a classification of science of his time, set out in the work "Experience in the Philosophy of Sciences ..." (1834)

André-Marie Ampère (January 20, 1775 - June 10, 1836) - famous French physicist, mathematician and naturalist, member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1814). Member of many academies of sciences, in particular foreign. Honorable foreign member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1830), one of the founders of electrodynamics. An outstanding scientist in whose honor one of the main electrical quantities is named - the unit of current strength - ampere. The author of the term "electrodynamics" as the name of the doctrine of electricity and magnetism, one of the founders of this doctrine.

Childhood and youth of Andre Marie Ampère

The ancestors of André Marie Ampère were artisans who lived in the vicinity of Lyon. Their professional and cultural level quickly increased from generation to generation, and the great-grandfather of the scientist, Jean Joseph, was not only an experienced stonemason, but also performed complex construction and restoration work, and his son Francois had already become a typical enlightened urban bourgeois, a representative of a rather prosperous third estate, and married a noblewoman. Father Andre Marie, Jean-Jacques Ampère, received a good education, spoke ancient languages, collected an excellent library, and was keenly interested in the ideas of the Enlightenment. Raising children, he was inspired by the pedagogical principles of Jean Jacques Rousseau. His political ideal was a constitutional monarchy.

The revolution found Jean-Jacques Ampère in the post of royal prosecutor and royal adviser in Lyon, which had been bought shortly before. The fall of the Bastille was greeted with enthusiasm by the Ampère family. But soon disaster struck. Jean Jacques held moderate views and paid the price for it. In Lyon, a Dominican, obsessed with the mystical ideas of February, began to rage, who slandered innocent people and, together with his henchmen, brought down punishments on them in the name of the revolution. The Lyons rebelled against the atrocities of the Jacobins, the uprising was crushed and the Girondins Jean-Jacques Ampère (although his actions, in fact, were just dictated by the intention to save the Jacobin leaders from the fury of the crowd) was guillotined on November 24, 1793. It was a terrible tragedy for André Marie and all of his families (besides, the family recently suffered another blow - Antoinette, the eldest of the sisters, died of tuberculosis).

We can say that saved Andre Marie, brought him back to life books. He began to read at about the age of four, at the age of 14 he read all 20 volumes of the Encyclopedia by Denis Diderot and Jean Léron d'Alembert in one gulp, and in order to read the works of Bernoulli and Euler, he studied Latin in a few weeks. Reading in general was not only the main, but also the only source of his knowledge.
There were no other teachers in Ampere, he never went to school, he did not pass a single exam in his whole life. But he constantly drew a lot from books. And Ampère did not just read, he studied, creatively assimilating what he read. It is no coincidence that already at the age of 12-14 he began to submit mathematical memoirs to the Lyon Academy, wrote scientific works on botany, invented new kite designs, worked on the creation of a new international language, and even combined all this with the creation of an epic poem.

The suffered mental trauma for almost two years unsettled Andre Marie. Only by the age of 20 does he regain his craving for books and knowledge. But Ampere still, in the eyes of many others, behaves strangely. Often wanders alone, clumsy and slovenly dressed, sometimes loudly and measuredly chanting Latin verses or talking to himself. In addition, he is very short-sighted (he only finds out about this by purchasing glasses, which was a significant event for him!).

Probably one of the main impulses that brought Ampere back to active life was his meeting with the golden-haired Catherine Carron. Ampère fell in love immediately and forever, but consent to the wedding was achieved only three years later. Ampere was greatly supported by Eliza, Catherine's sister, who understood and appreciated his rare spiritual qualities earlier than others. In August 1800, the son of Ampère was born, who was named Jean Jacques in honor of his grandfather.

The story of the life of Ampere

The physicist André Ampère was a very absent-minded person. Once he was visiting. It began to rain heavily, and the owner offered Amper to stay overnight, and he agreed. After a few minutes, the owner decided to see how his guest settled down, if everything was in order. He knocked on the door, there was no answer. I looked into the room - it was empty. And suddenly the phone rang. The owner opened the door and saw a wet and disheveled Ampere.

Where did you go?
“Home, for pajamas,” the physicist replied.

In Bourg and Lyon

Even before his marriage, André Ampère began teaching, giving private lessons in mathematics. Now he has managed to secure a position as a teacher at the Burg Central School. Having passed an interview at the Commission in February 1802, he was recognized as prepared to conduct classes. The situation in the Burz school was miserable and Amper tried to at least slightly improve the physics and chemistry classrooms, although neither the school, nor, moreover, the teacher had money for this. The pay was very small, and you had to live separately from your wife and child, who remained in Lyon. Although Ampère's mother could help in any way she could, he had to look for additional income, giving more lessons in the private boarding house of Duprat and Olivier.

Despite the large pedagogical load, Ampère does not leave scientific work. It was at this time, in an introductory lecture at the Central School in 1802, and even earlier - at a meeting of the Lyon Academy, in the presence of Volta, that he first expressed the idea that magnetic and electrical phenomena can be explained on the basis of uniform principles.

His efforts in the field of mathematics do not weaken either. This is where research on probability theory comes to the fore. They were noticed at the Academy of Sciences, where, in particular, Pierre Simon Laplace drew attention to them. This became the basis for recognizing Ampère as a suitable teacher at the Lyon Lyceum, which was just opening. His candidacy was put forward by d'Alembert. In April 1803, by a decree of the Consulate, Ampère was appointed to the position of a lyceum teacher he desired. However, Ampère remained in Lyon for less than two years.

Already in mid-October 1804, he was enrolled as a tutor at the Polytechnic School in Paris and moved there.

First decade in Paris

The move to Paris took place shortly after Ampère was widowed. The loss of his beloved wife plunged him into despair and religious confusion. Perhaps this is also why Ampère, despite the pleas of his mother, hastened to leave Lyon in order to begin teaching in Paris at the Polytechnic School organized ten years ago.

Starting to work as a tutor, Ampere already in 1807 began independent studies, and soon he became a professor of mathematical analysis. Soon the 24-year-old Arago appeared at the Polytechnic School, with whom Ampère later carried out important joint research. The attitude towards Ampere of his colleagues, among whom there were quite a few really great scientists, was quite benevolent, his work was going well, but the emotional wound inflicted by the loss of his wife was excruciating. Trying to somehow help, Ampere's friends introduced him to a family in which there was a daughter "marriageable", 26-year-old Jeanne Francoise. The gullible, simple-hearted and defenseless in his naivety Ampère soon became a victim of the merchant's greed and gross egoism of this woman and her entire family, who after a while was simply kicked out of the house, and he had to find a temporary shelter in the Ministry of the Interior.

Meanwhile, Ampère's number of professional duties grew. He was appointed to the post of professor of mathematical analysis and examiner in mechanics in the first department of the Polytechnic School, worked (until 1810) in the Advisory Bureau of Arts and Crafts, and since the autumn of 1808 as the chief inspector of the university. This last work, which Ampère was forced to take on due to straitened material circumstances, required constant traveling and took up a particularly large amount of time and effort. He gave this exhausting work 28 years, and the last business trip ended on the way to Marseille in 1836 with his death.

But the period of a sharp rise in scientific activity, the time of his main achievements, turned out to be the years after his election in 1814 to the Academy of Sciences.

After being elected to the Academy

André Marie Ampère was elected a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences in the geometry section on November 28, 1814. By that time, the circle of his scientific and pedagogical interests had already been fully defined and nothing, it would seem, foreshadowed noticeable changes here. But the time for these changes was already approaching, the second decade of the nineteenth century, the time of the main scientific achievements of Ampère, was approaching. In 1820, Ampere learned about the experiments that had been carried out shortly before by the Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted. He discovered that the current flowing through the wire affects the magnetic needle located near the wire.

On September 4 and 11, Arago made a report in Paris about these works of Oersted and even repeated some of his experiments. This did not arouse much interest among academicians, but Ampere was completely captured. Contrary to his custom, he spoke here not only as a theoretician, but in a small room of his modest apartment he took up experiments, for which he even made a table with his own hands; this relic is still kept in the College de France. He put aside all other business and on 18 and 25 September 1820 made his first reports on electromagnetism. In fact, during these two weeks, Ampère arrived at his main scientific results. The influence of these works of Ampere on many branches of science - from the physics of the atom and elementary particles to electrical engineering and geophysics - cannot be overestimated.

At that time, it seemed to many that there was a complete parallelism between electricity and magnetism: that there are electric charges, but there are also magnetic charges, and in the world of electrical phenomena there is a similar world of magnetic phenomena in everything. Oersted's discovery was then interpreted by many in such a way that under the action of a current, the wire through which this current flows is magnetized, and therefore acts on a magnetic needle. Ampere put forward a fundamentally new, radical and even, at first glance, bold idea: there are no magnetic charges in nature at all, there are only electric charges, and magnetism arises only due to the movement of electric charges through electric currents.

Almost two hundred years have passed since André Marie Ampère came up with this hypothesis, and it would seem that it is time to figure out whether he is right (and then the name “hypothesis” becomes inappropriate), or it should be abandoned. First impression: even the very fact of the existence of permanent magnets contradicts Ampère's hypothesis, because there seem to be no currents responsible for the occurrence of magnetism here! Ampère objects: magnetism is generated by a huge number of tiny electric atomic current circuits (one can only be surprised that such a deep idea could appear at a time when not only did they not know anything about the structure of atoms, but even the word "electron" did not even exist yet!). Each such circuit acts as a "magnetic sheet" - an elementary magnetic two-terminal network. This explains why magnetic charges of the same sign - "magnetic monopoles", in contrast to electric monopoles, do not occur in nature.

Why is it still a "hypothesis"? After all, more than once it seemed that “magnets” had been found in which there were no electric charges. Take, for example, the neutron. There is zero electric charge in this part, but there is a magnetic moment. Again a “moment”, that is, again a magnetic two-terminal network, and its appearance is again explained in the current theory of elementary particles by “microscopic” currents, only now not inside the atom, but inside the neutron. So can we confidently assert that magnetism is always generated by the movement of electric charges? Ampère's hypothesis in such a pointed formulation is not accepted by all theorists. Moreover, some versions of the theory say that magnetic monopoles (“single-poles”) should appear, but only at high energies that are inaccessible to us today.

Ampère's hypothesis was an important fundamental step towards establishing the idea of the unity of nature. But it posed a number of new questions for researchers. First of all, it was necessary to give a complete and closed theory of the interaction of currents. André Marie Ampère himself brilliantly solved this problem, acting as a theoretician and as an experimenter. To find out how currents interact in various circuits, he had to formulate the laws of the magnetic interaction of individual elements of the current ("Ampère's law") and the action of currents on magnets ("Ampère's rule"). In fact, a new science of electricity and magnetism was created, and even the term "electrodynamics" was introduced by one of the brilliant scientists of the past, André Marie Ampère.

Outstanding scientist

The French scientist André Marie Ampère is known in the history of science mainly as the founder of electrodynamics. Meanwhile, he was a universal scientist, he has merits in the field of mathematics, chemistry, biology, and even in linguistics and philosophy. He was a brilliant mind, striking with his encyclopedic knowledge of all his neighbors.

Andre's exceptional abilities manifested themselves at an early age. He never went to school, but he learned reading and arithmetic very quickly. The boy read everything he found in his father's library. Already at the age of 14, he read all twenty-eight volumes of the French Encyclopedia. Andre showed particular interest in the physical and mathematical sciences. But it was in this area that his father's library was clearly not enough, and Andre began to visit the library of Lyon College to read the works of great mathematicians.

Parents invited a mathematics teacher for Andre. Already at the first meeting, he realized what an extraordinary student he was dealing with. “Do you know how roots are found?” he asked André. “No,” the boy replied, “but I can integrate!” Soon the teacher abandoned the lessons, as his knowledge was clearly not enough to teach such a student.

The execution of his father was a heavy blow to Ampère and had other consequences. According to the court's verdict, almost all the family's property was confiscated and her financial situation deteriorated sharply. Andre had to think about his livelihood. He decided to move to Lyon and give private lessons in mathematics until you can get a job as a full-time teacher in some educational institution.

Ampere always considered mathematics as a powerful tool for solving various applied problems of physics and technology. Already his first published mathematical work devoted to the theory of probability was, in fact, applied in nature and was called "Discourse on the mathematical theory of the game" (1802). Questions of the theory of probability interested him in the future.

In the study of many problems in physics and mechanics, the so-called partial differential equations are of great importance. The solution of such equations is associated with significant mathematical difficulties, which were overcome by the greatest mathematicians. Ampère also made his contribution to mathematical physics, as this branch of science is called. In 1814 alone, he completed several works that were highly appreciated by famous French mathematicians, in particular Dallas, Lagrange and Poisson.

Ampère's fame grew rapidly, and scientists responded especially pleasantly to his experimental work on electromagnetism. He was visited by famous physicists, he received a number of invitations from other countries to make presentations on his work. But his health was undermined, and his financial situation was also unstable. He was oppressed by work at the Polytechnic School and inspector duties. He still dreamed of teaching a course in physics, not mathematics, and reading in an unconventional way, including a new section in the course - electrodynamics, of which he himself was the creator. The most suitable place for this was one of the oldest educational institutions in France - the College de France. After many troubles and intrigues, in 1824 Ampère was elected to the post of professor at the College de France. He was given the chair of general and experimental physics.

The last years of Amper's life were overshadowed by many family and work troubles, which had a difficult effect on his already poor health. External signs of success did not bring material well-being. He was still forced to spend a lot of time lecturing to the detriment of his scientific pursuits. But he did not leave science.

In 1835, Ampère published a work in which he proved the similarity between light and thermal radiation and showed that all radiation is converted into heat when absorbed. Ampere's passion for geology and biology dates back to this time. He took an active part in the scientific disputes between the famous scientists Cuvier and St. Iller, the forerunners of the evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin, and published two biological works in which he presented his point of view on the evolutionary process. At one of the debates, opponents of the idea of the evolution of wildlife asked Ampère whether he really believed that man had descended from a snail. To this, Ampère replied: "I am convinced that man arose according to a law common to all animals."

Another passion of Ampère was the classification of sciences. This important methodological and general scientific problem has interested Ampère for a long time, since the time of his work at Bourg-en-Bresse. He developed his own classification system of sciences, which he intended to present in a two-volume essay. In 1834, the first volume of "Experiences in the Philosophy of Sciences, or an Analytical Presentation of the Natural Classification of All Human Knowledge" was published. The second volume was published by Ampère's son after his death.

Ampère was a great master of inventing new scientific terms. It was he who introduced into the everyday life of scientists such words as "electrostatics", "electrodynamics", "solenoid". Ampère suggested that in the future, a new science of the general laws of management processes is likely to emerge. He suggested calling it "cybernetics". Ampère's prediction came true.

Ampère died of pneumonia on July 10, 1836 in Marseille during an inspection trip. There he was buried.

He discovered (1820) the mechanical interaction of currents and established the law of this interaction (Ampère's law). He built all magnetic interactions to the interaction of circular molecular electric currents hidden in bodies, equivalent to flat magnets (Ampère's theorem). He argued that a large magnet consists of a huge number of elementary flat magnets. He consistently proved the purely current nature of magnetism.

Mathematics, mechanics and physics owe important research to Ampere, his electrodynamic theory brought him unquenchable fame. His view of the single primary essence of electricity and magnetism, in which he essentially agreed with the Danish physicist Oersted, is beautifully set out by him in "Recueil d'observations lectrodynamiques" (Paris, 1822), in "Precis de la theorie des phenomenes electrodynamiques" (Paris , 1824) and in Theorio des phenomenes electrodynamiques. Ampere's versatile talent did not remain indifferent to chemistry, which gives him one of the pages of honor and considers him, together with Avogadro, the author of the most important law of modern chemistry. In honor of this scientist, the unit of electric current strength is called "Ampere", and measuring instruments - "ammeters". (Ostwald, Klassiker der exacten Wissenschaften No.8. Die Grundlagen der Molekulartbeorie, Abhandlungen v. A. Avogadro und Ampere, 1889). In addition, Ampère still has the work "Essais sur la philosophie des Sciences" (2 vols., 1834-43, 2nd edition, 1857) to come.

This is a far from complete list of outstanding achievements of this brilliant scientist.
André Marie Ampère was born on January 22, 1775 in Lyon.

Scientific contribution

discovered the law of interaction of electric currents;
proposed the first theory of magnetism;
works on the theory of probability;
application of the calculus of variations in mechanics.

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