For his contributions to electrical science, the unit of electric current was named after Ampere.
(1775-1836) French physicist, mathematician, and chemist. He is one of the founders of electromagnetic theory. He was born on January 22, 1775, in the city of Lyon, the son of a wealthy silk merchant. His father, Jean-Jacques Ampere, was very influenced by Rousseau's educational theories and decided to raise his son according to the suggestions in Rousseau's Emile. For this purpose, he prepared a rich library for his son in the village of Polemieux, where they moved shortly after his birth, and enabled Andre-Marie to educate himself without any interference in the choice of books. The most important work in this library that influenced Ampere was the Encyclopedia prepared by Diderot and d'Alembert. A pamphlet examining Descartes' life and work also convinced Ampere of the dignity of his scholarly pursuit. Aware of his mathematical genius in those days, Ampere began to prove himself the results in Euclid's geometry books. Nor did Ampere be deterred by the fact that some of the important mathematical works in the Lyon library were in Latin; He learned Latin in a very short time and read almost every book he could find. On the other hand, under the influence of his mother, Jeanne Desutieres-Sarcey, little Ampere was given a deep religious education. Thus, all his life Ampere lived with the dilemma between the skepticism of the Encyclopedists and the comfort of religious belief.
Ampere's childhood ended with the French Revolution of 1789. The Revolution also affected distant villages such as Polemieux; his father, Jean-Jacques, had been appointed as the investigating judge at the request of the villagers to oppose the Jacobins. Eventually, the village surrendered to the armies of the Republicans and Jean-Jacques Ampere was guillotined on November 23, 1793. This event deeply affected Andre-Marie. During his childhood years between books, he was always away from world events; He was completely withdrawn in the face of this big change, which he did not expect. During this depressive period, he met Julie Caron, who was a little older than him. Despite their family's equal economic and social standing, Ampere's seemingly unemployed and introverted ness prevented him from marrying Julie Caron, who was accustomed to Lyon's social life. However, Ampere, who lived his emotions with all their intensity, was not in the nature to let go of thought before it reached its goal. When he married Caron in 1799, Ampere's joy was as great and shocking as her grief over her father's death. This feature of Ampere was also influential in his scientific work: It was his extreme enthusiasm for the subject he was interested in. He never worked with carefully orchestrated experiments or systematic thinking, but he did not fail to patiently investigate the smallest thought that troubled his mind to the end.
The four years after their marriage was the happiest time in Ampere's life. In 1800 he had a son, whom he named Jean-Jacques, and he supported his family by giving private mathematics lessons in Lyon. In 1802, he took over the teaching of physics and chemistry at a school in Bourg. In April 1803, he began to write an original article on the mathematical theory of games of chance, believing that he would become famous in the scientific world. However, his wife, who had been ill since the birth of their son, died three months later; He decided to leave Ampere de Lyon and his memories.
Appointed lecturer at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris when his article on the theory of probability attracted attention, Ampere could not quell the storms of his emotional life. Finding his job very boring and feeling lonely in this big city with which he was unfamiliar, he took refuge with a family and married their daughter, Jeanne Potot, in 1806. They had a daughter, but this marriage ended in divorce.
Appointed as an inspector in the newly established university system in 1808, Ampere continued this duty until his death. In 1819 he was invited to lecture at the University of Paris. In 1824 he was appointed head of experimental physics at the College de France. His work in electrodynamics, especially between 1820 and 1824, made Ampere one of the greatest scholars of the age. However, his private life was always disorderly and unhappy. As a result of his children's problems and financial difficulties, his health deteriorated and he died alone on June 10, 1836, in Marseille, where he went for an inspection.
Ampere is not among the greatest mathematicians today, although he showed great promise as a child with his mathematical talent.
By 1820 Ampere had established quite a reputation as a mathematician and chemist, but certain developments in September of that year ensured Ampere's real place in the history of science. Indeed, it was Oersted's discovery of electromagnetism in the spring of 1820 that opened the door to a new world for Ampere. During his experiments, Oersted observed the interaction between conductors carrying electric currents and magnets.
Ampere announced on September 25, 1820, that magnetism should be looked at as the result of electric currents. Thus, a current-carrying conductor was identical to a magnet.
After developing the basic idea behind electrodynamic phenomena, Ampere undertook new experiments on this subject between 1821 and 1825 and carried out their mathematical analysis. With these studies, Ampere started the science of electrodynamics and laid the foundations that have remained valid until today. He collected the results of his research in La theorie analytique des pbenomenes electro-dynamiques uniquement deduite de l'experience (“The Analytical Theory of Electrodynamic Phenomena Arrived Through Experiment Only”), published in 1827.