Georg Simon Ohm’s biography: How Ohm’s law was formulated

Georg Simon Ohm (1789 – 1854)

He was born in Bayern State in Germany. His father studied math, physics, and philosophy by himself and taught his children what he learned.

Because he learned enough from his father, Georg thought that he wouldn’t learn anything in school when he was eleven years old. After completing the college, he started working as a math teacher.

Although he was major in mathematics, he got a chance to teach physics in schools. He was gradually fascinated with electric phenomena discovered by Oersted. He got engaged in figuring out the mathematical aspect of electricity. Georg discovered that the magnitude of current in a metal wire is proportional to its cross-sectional area and inversely proportional to its length. In addition, he formulated that the resistance is equal to the voltage divided by the current in a circuit, which is called Ohm’s law nowadays.

His performance is based on the experiments and mathematical logic; however, he was not evaluated by German science society for a long time. Allegedly, the strong influence of idealism of philosophy might have prevented it from accepting Ohm’s way to analyze the whole.