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Andre-Marie Ampère (French: André-Marie Ampère). Born January 20, 1775 - died June 10, 1836. Famous French physicist, mathematician and natural scientist, member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1814). Member of many academies of sciences, in particular a foreign honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1830). He created the first theory that expressed the connection between electrical and magnetic phenomena. Ampere came up with a hypothesis about the nature of magnetism; he introduced the concept of “electric current” into physics. James Maxwell called Ampere the "Newton of electricity."

Ampere was born in Lyon, received home education. After the death of his father, who was guillotined in 1793, Ampère was first a tutor at the École Polytechnique in Paris, then he occupied the chair of physics at Bourque, and from 1805, the chair of mathematics at the École Polytechnique in Paris, where he also distinguished himself in the literary field, making his first essay: “Considerations sur la thèorie mathematique du jeu” (“Considerations about mathematical theory games", Lyon, 1802).

In 1814 he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences, and from 1824 he served as 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 famous philologist.

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

According to Ampere's theory, magnetic interactions are the result of the interactions of so-called circular molecular currents occurring in bodies, equivalent to small flat magnets, or magnetic sheets. This statement is called Ampere's theorem. Thus, a large magnet, according to Ampere’s ideas, 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 followed the idea of equivalence of the solenoid to a permanent magnet. They were also asked to enhance 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 “Récueil d’observations électrodynamiques”, Paris, 1822), “ Short course theory of electrodynamic phenomena" (French "Precis de la thèorie des phenomenes électrodynamiques", Paris, 1824), "Theory of electrodynamic phenomena" (French "Thèorie des phenomenes électrodynamiques").

In 1826, he proved a theorem about the circulation of the magnetic field.

In 1829 Ampere invented devices such as the commutator and the electromagnetic telegraph..

In mechanics he belongs formulation of the term “kinematics”.

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

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

In honor of the scientist, the unit of electric current is called the “ampere.”, and the corresponding measuring instruments - “ammeters”.

Some of Ampere's studies relate to botany, as well as 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 Ampere (January 20, 1775 - June 10, 1836) was a famous French physicist, mathematician and natural scientist, member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1814). Member of many academies of sciences, including foreign ones. Honorable foreign member St. Petersburg Academy Sciences (1830), one of the founders of electrodynamics. An outstanding scientist in whose honor one of the basic electrical quantities is named - the unit of current - ampere. The author of the very term “electrodynamics” as the name of the doctrine of electricity and magnetism, one of the founders of this doctrine.

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

Childhood and youth of André Marie Ampere

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

The revolution found Jean-Jacques Ampere in the post of royal prosecutor and royal adviser in Lyon, purchased shortly before. The Ampère family greeted the fall of the Bastille with enthusiasm. But soon disaster befell her. Jean Jacques was a moderate and paid for it. In Lyon, the Dominican, obsessed with the mystical ideas of February, began to rage, who slandered innocent people and, in the name of the revolution, together with his henchmen, brought down punishments on them. The people of Lyon rebelled against the atrocities of the Jacobins, the uprising was suppressed and the Girondins Jean-Jacques Ampère (although his actions, in fact, were precisely dictated by the intention to save the Jacobin leaders from the rage of the crowd) was guillotined on November 24, 1793. This was terrible tragedy for Andre Marie and his entire family (in addition, the family recently suffered another blow - Antoinette, the eldest of the sisters, died of tuberculosis).

We can say that it was books that saved Andre Marie and brought him back to life. He began reading at about the age of four, at the age of 14 he read all 20 volumes of the Encyclopedia by Denis Diderot and Jean Leron d'Alembert, and in order to read the works of Bernoulli and Euler, he studied Latin language. Reading in general was not only the main thing, but also the only source his knowledge.
There were no other teachers in Ampera, he never went to school, and never passed an exam in his entire life. But he constantly drew a lot from books. And Ampère didn’t 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, he wrote scientific works in botany, invented new designs kites, worked to create a new international language and even combined all this with the creation of an epic poem.

The mental trauma he suffered unsettled Andre Marie for almost two years. Only at the age of 20 does he regain his thirst for books and knowledge. But Amper, in the eyes of many around him, still behaves strangely. He often wanders alone, clumsy and sloppily dressed, sometimes loudly and measuredly chanting Latin verses or talking to himself. In addition, he is very nearsighted (he only finds out about this when he gets 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. Ampere fell in love immediately and forever, but consent to the wedding was achieved only three years later. Eliza, Catherine’s sister, gave great support to Ampere; she understood and appreciated his rare spiritual qualities earlier than others. In August 1800, Ampère's son was born, who was named Jean Jacques in honor of his grandfather.

Ampere's life story

Physicist Andre Ampere was very absent-minded person. One day he was visiting. It began to rain heavily, and the owner invited Ampere to stay overnight, and he agreed. A few minutes later, the owner decided to see how his guest had settled down and if everything was okay. He knocked on the door, there was no answer. I looked into the room - it was empty. And suddenly the bell rang. The owner opened the door and saw a wet and disheveled Ampere.

Where did you go?
“Home, get some pajamas,” answered the physicist.

In Burg and Lyon

Even before his marriage, Andre Ampere began teaching, giving private lessons in mathematics. Now he managed to secure a position as a teacher at the Central School of Burg. Having passed an interview with the Commission in February 1802, he was recognized as prepared to conduct classes. The situation in the Burzy school was wretched and Ampere tried to at least slightly improve the physics and chemistry classrooms, although neither the school nor, especially, the teacher had money for this. The payment was very small, and he had to live separately from his wife and child, who remained in Lyon. Although Ampere’s mother helped in any way she could, he had to look for additional income by giving lessons at the private boarding house of Duprat and Olivier.

Despite the heavy teaching load, Ampere does not leave scientific work. It was at this time, in the 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 could be explained based on common principles.

His efforts in the field of mathematics continue unabated. Here, 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 Ampère to be recognized as suitable for the position of teacher at the Lycée Lyceum, which was just opening. His candidacy was nominated by D'Alembert. In April 1803, by decree of the Consulate, Ampère was appointed to his desired position as a teacher at the Lyceum. However, Ampère remained in Lyon for less than two years.

Already in mid-October 1804, he was hired as a tutor at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and moved there.

First decade in Paris

The move to Paris occurred shortly after Ampère became a widower. 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 to begin teaching in Paris at the Ecole Polytechnique, founded ten years ago.

Having started working as a tutor, Ampere already in 1807 began independent studies, and soon he became a professor of mathematical analysis. Soon, 24-year-old Arago appeared at the Polytechnic School, with whom Ampere subsequently conducted important joint research. The attitude of Ampere's colleagues, among whom there were many truly eminent scientists, was quite friendly, his work was successful, but the mental wound inflicted by the loss of his wife was painful. Trying to somehow help, Ampère’s friends introduced him to a family that had a daughter of marriageable age, 26-year-old Jeanne Françoise. The gullible, simple-minded and defenseless in his naivety Ampere soon became a victim of the commercial greed and gross selfishness of this woman and her entire family, who after some time was simply kicked out of the house and had to find temporary shelter in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Meanwhile, Ampere's professional responsibilities grew. He was appointed to the position 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 fall of 1808, as the chief inspector of the university. This last work, which Ampera was forced to undertake by cramped financial circumstances, required constant travel and took up a lot of time and effort. He devoted 28 years to this grueling work, and his last business trip ended on the way to Marseille in 1836 with his death.

Work overload and everyday adversity could not but affect Ampere's scientific productivity. 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. IN to a lesser extent The decline in scientific activity affected chemistry, with prominent representatives of which Ampere fruitfully communicated. Almost throughout 1808 he was fascinated by ideas that later began to be referred to as the field of atomism.

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

After being elected to the Academy

Andre Marie Ampère was elected to the membership of the Paris Academy of Sciences in the section of geometry on November 28, 1814. The range of his scientific and pedagogical interests had already been completely determined by that time and nothing, it would seem, foreshadowed any noticeable changes here. But the time for these changes was already approaching, the second decade of the nineteenth century was approaching, the time of Ampere’s main scientific achievements. In 1820, Ampere learned about experiments that had recently been carried out by the Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted. He discovered that the current flowing through a wire affects a 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. Great interest This did not cause any concern among the academicians, but Ampere was completely captivated. Contrary to his custom, he acted here not only as a theorist, but began conducting experiments in the small room of his modest apartment, for which he even made a table with his own hands; this relic is kept to this day at the Collège de France. He put aside all other matters and on September 18 and 25, 1820, made his first reports on electromagnetism. In fact, during these two weeks Ampere came to his main scientific results. The influence of these works by Ampere on many branches of science - from atomic and particle physics to electrical engineering and geophysics - cannot be overestimated.

In 1785-88. Charles Augustin Coulomb carried out 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 example the law universal gravity, study all possible types of forces available in nature.

It seemed to many then that there was complete parallelism between electricity and magnetism: that there were electric and also magnetic charges, and in the world of electrical phenomena there was a world of magnetic phenomena similar to it in everything. Oersted's discovery was then interpreted by many to mean that under the influence of a current, the wire through which this current flows becomes magnetized, and therefore acts on the magnetic needle. Ampere put forward a fundamentally new, radical and even, at first glance, daring idea: no magnetic charges exist 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 Andre Marie Ampere came up with this hypothesis and, it would seem, it’s time to figure out whether he is right (and then the name “hypothesis” becomes inappropriate), or whether it needs to be abandoned. First impression: even the very fact of the existence of permanent magnets contradicts Ampere’s hypothesis, because there seem to be no currents responsible for the occurrence of magnetism here! Ampere objects: magnetism is generated by a huge number of tiny electrical atomic current circuits (one can only be surprised that such a deep idea could appear at a time when not only did they know nothing about the structure of atoms, but 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 electrical charges. For example, a neutron. This part has zero electric charge, but there is a magnetic moment. Again there is 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 say 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-pole”) should appear, but only at high energies that are inaccessible to us today.

Ampere's hypothesis was an important fundamental step towards establishing the idea of the unity of nature. But it raised 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. This problem was brilliantly solved by Andre Marie Ampère himself, acting both 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 current elements (“Ampere’s law”) and the action of currents on magnets (“Ampere’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 Ampere.

Outstanding scientist

The French scientist Andre Marie Ampere is known in the history of science mainly as the founder of electrodynamics. Meanwhile, he was a universal scientist, with merits in the fields of mathematics, chemistry, biology, and even linguistics and philosophy. He was a brilliant mind, amazing all his fellow people with his encyclopedic knowledge.

Andre's exceptional abilities were evident in 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 physical and mathematical sciences. But it was in this area that his father’s library was clearly lacking, and Andre began visiting the library of the College of Lyon 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 to find roots,” he asked Andre. “No,” the boy answered, “but I know how to integrate!” Soon the teacher abandoned the lessons, since his knowledge was clearly not enough to teach such a student.

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

The execution of his father was a heavy blow for Ampere and had other consequences. By court 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 mathematics lessons until he was able to get a job as a full-time teacher in some educational institution.

Ampere dreamed of restructuring the traditional teaching of physics courses. Instead, there are boring teachers and officials, a wretched laboratory and a poor physics room, and everyday everyday worries. However, he worked hard to fill the gaps in his knowledge.

Almost until 1820, the scientist’s main interests focused on problems of mathematics, mechanics and chemistry. At that time, he dealt very little with issues of physics: 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 Ampere achieved results that gave rise to his candidacy for the Academy in the mathematical department.

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

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

He also does not give up his studies in chemistry. His achievements in the field of chemistry include the discovery, independently of Amedeo Avogadro, of the law of equality molar volumes various gases. It should rightly be called the Avogadro-Ampere law. The scientist also made the first attempt at classification chemical elements based on a comparison of their parameters.

From 1820 to 1826 Ampere published a number of theoretical and experimental works on electrodynamics and made a report on this topic at almost every meeting of the Academy's physics department. In 1826, his final classic work, “The Theory of Electrodynamic Phenomena, Deduced Exclusively from Experience,” was published. The work on this book took place under very difficult conditions.

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

The last years of Ampere's life were overshadowed by many family and work troubles, which had a difficult impact on his already poor health. External signs success did not bring material well-being. He was still forced to devote a lot of time to lecturing at the expense of his scientific studies. But he did not abandon science.

In 1835, Ampère published a paper 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 accepted Active participation in scientific disputes between the famous scientists Cuvier and Saint-Hillaire, predecessors of the evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin, and published two biological works in which he outlined his point of view on the process of evolution. At one of the debates, opponents of the idea of the evolution of living nature asked Ampere whether he really believed that man descended from a snail. To this Ampere replied: “I am convinced that man arose according to a law common to all animals.”

Ampere's other hobby was the classification of sciences. This methodologically and generally scientifically important problem interested Ampere for a long time, since his work in Bourg-en-Bres. He developed his own system of classification of sciences, which he intended to present in a two-volume work. In 1834, the first volume of “Essays in the Philosophy of Sciences or an Analytical Exposition of the Natural Classification of All Sciences” was published. human knowledge" The second volume was published by Ampere's son after his death.

Ampere was a great master at inventing new scientific terms. It was he who introduced into the everyday life of scientists such words as “electrostatics”, “electrodynamics”, “solenoid”. Ampere suggested that in the future a new science of general patterns management processes. He suggested calling it “cybernetics.” Ampere's prediction came true.

Ampere died of pneumonia on July 10, 1836 in Marseilles during an inspection trip. He was buried there.

Ampere conducted a series of experiments to study the interaction between electric current and a magnet, for which he designed a large number of devices. Discovered the effect of the Earth's magnetic field on moving current-carrying conductors.

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

Andre Marie Ampère discovered (1822) the magnetic effect of a current coil (solenoid). He expressed the idea of the equivalence of a current-carrying solenoid and a permanent magnet. He proposed placing 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). Formulated the concept of “kinematics”. He also conducted research in philosophy and botany.

Mathematics, mechanics and physics owe important research to Ampere; his electrodynamic theory brought him undying fame. His view of the single primary essence of electricity and magnetism, in which he essentially agreed with the Danish physicist Oersted, is beautifully outlined 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 honorable pages 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 is called “Ampere”, and the measuring instruments are called “ammeters”. (Ostwald, “Klassiker der exacten Wissenschaften No.8.” “Die Grundlagen der Molekulartbeorie”, Abhandlungen v. A. Avogadro und Ampere, 1889). In addition, Ampère also had to work on “Essais sur la philosophie des Sciences” (2 vols., 1834-43, 2nd edition, 1857).

This is far from a complete list of the 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 probability theory;
application of the calculus of variations in mechanics.

Andre 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 basic electrical quantities is named - the unit of current - ampere. The author of the very term “electrodynamics” as the name of the doctrine of electricity and magnetism, one of the founders of this doctrine.

He discovered (1820) the mechanical interaction of currents and established the law of this interaction (Ampere's law). Reduced all magnetic interactions to the interaction of circular molecular electric currents hidden in bodies, equivalent to flat magnets (Ampere’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.

Childhood and youth

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

The revolution found Jean-Jacques Ampere in the post of royal prosecutor and royal adviser in Lyon, purchased shortly before. The Ampère family greeted the fall of the Bastille with enthusiasm. But soon disaster befell her. Jean Jacques adhered to moderate views, and paid for it. In Lyon, a fierce Jacobin obsessed with mystical ideas began to rage, who slandered innocent people and, in the name of the revolution, together with his henchmen, brought down punishments on them. The people of Lyon rebelled against the atrocities of the Jacobins, the uprising was suppressed and the Girondin Jean-Jacques Ampère (although his actions, in fact, were dictated by the intention to save the Jacobin leaders from the rage of the crowd) was guillotined on November 24, 1793. This was a terrible shock for André Marie and his entire family (who also recently suffered another blow - Antoinette, the eldest of the sisters, died of tuberculosis).

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

The mental trauma he suffered unsettled Andre Marie for almost two years. Only at the age of 20 does he regain his thirst for books and knowledge. But Amper still, in the opinion of many around him, behaves strangely. He often wanders alone, clumsy and sloppily dressed, sometimes chanting Latin poetry loudly and measuredly, or talking to himself. In addition, he is very nearsighted (he only finds out about this when he gets glasses, which was a significant event for him!).

Probably one of the main impulses that returned Ampere to active life was his meeting with the golden-haired Catherine Carron. Amper fell in love instantly and forever, but consent to the wedding was achieved only three years later. Ampere received great support from Eliza, Catherine’s sister, who understood and appreciated his rare spiritual qualities earlier than others. In August 1800, the Amperes' son was born, who was named Jean Jacques in honor of his grandfather.

In Burg and Lyon

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

His efforts in the field of mathematics continue unabated. Here, 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 Ampere’s recognition as suitable for the position of teacher at the Lyceum Lyceum, which was then opening. His candidacy was put forward by D'Alembert. In April 1803, by decree of the Consulate, Ampère was appointed to his desired position as a teacher at the Lyceum. However, Ampère remained in Lyon for less than two years.

Already in mid-October 1804, he was hired as a tutor at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and moved there.

First decade in Paris

The move to Paris occurred shortly after Ampère became a widower. The loss of his adored wife plunged him into despair and religious confusion. Perhaps this is also why Ampère, despite the pleas of his mother, hastened to leave Lyon to begin teaching in Paris at the Ecole Polytechnique, founded ten years ago.

Having started working as a tutor, Ampere began independent studies in 1807, and soon he became a professor of mathematical analysis. Soon, 24-year-old Arago appeared at the Polytechnic School, with whom Ampere subsequently conducted important joint research. The attitude of his colleagues, among whom there were many truly eminent scientists, towards Ampere was quite favorable, his work was successful, but the mental wound inflicted by the loss of his wife was painful. Movable best feelings Ampère's friends introduced him to a family that included a daughter of marriageable age, 26-year-old Jeanne Françoise. The gullible, simple-minded and defenseless in his naivety Ampere soon became a victim of the commercial greed and gross selfishness of this woman and her entire family, who after some time was simply kicked out of the house and had to find temporary shelter in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Meanwhile, the number of Ampere's professional responsibilities increased. He was appointed to the position 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 fall of 1808, as the chief inspector of the university. This last work, which Ampere was forced to undertake by cramped financial circumstances, required constant travel and took a particularly large amount of time and effort. He devoted 28 years to this grueling work, and his last business trip ended on the road to Marseille in 1836 with his death.

Work overload and everyday adversity could not but affect Ampere's scientific productivity. 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 Ampere fruitfully communicated. Almost throughout 1808 he was fascinated by ideas that later began to be classified as atomistics.

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

After being elected to the Academy

Ampère was elected to the membership of the Paris Academy of Sciences in the section of geometry on November 28, 1814. The range of his scientific and pedagogical interests had already been completely defined by that time, and nothing, it would seem, foreshadowed any noticeable changes here. But the time for these changes was already approaching, the second decade of the nineteenth century was approaching, the time of Ampere’s most important scientific achievements. In 1820, Ampere learned about experiments that had recently been carried out by the Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted. He discovered that the current flowing through a wire affects a 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 captivated. Contrary to his custom, he acted here not only as a theorist, but began conducting experiments in the small room of his modest apartment, for which he even made a table with his own hands; this relic remains to this day in the Collège de France. He put aside all other matters and on September 18 and 25, 1820, made his first reports on electromagnetism. In fact, during these two weeks Ampere came to his most important scientific results. The influence of these works of Ampere on many branches of science - from atomic and elementary particle physics to electrical engineering and geophysics - cannot be overestimated.

In 1785-88. Charles Augustin Coulomb carried out 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, using the law of universal gravitation as a great example, to study all possible types of forces available in nature.

It seemed to many then that there was complete parallelism between electricity and magnetism: that there were electric and magnetic charges, and that the world of electrical phenomena had a world of magnetic phenomena similar to it in everything. Oersted's discovery was then interpreted by many to mean that under the influence of current, the wire through which this current flows becomes magnetized, and therefore acts on the magnetic needle. Ampere put forward a fundamentally new, radical and even, at first glance, daring idea: no magnetic charges exist 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 .

Almost two hundred years have passed since Ampere came up with this hypothesis, and it would seem that it is time to figure out whether he was right (and then the name “hypothesis” becomes inappropriate), or whether it should be abandoned. First impression: even the very fact of the existence of permanent magnets contradicts Ampere’s hypothesis: after all, there seem to be no currents responsible for the occurrence of magnetism here! Ampere objects: magnetism is generated by a huge number of tiny electrical atomic current circuits (one can only be amazed that such a profound idea could appear at a time when not only did they not know anything about the structure of atoms, but 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 electrical charges. Here, for example, is the neutron. This particle has zero electric charge, but has a magnetic moment. Again there is 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 say 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. Furthermore, some versions of the theory say that magnetic monopoles (“single-pole”) should appear, but only at enormous energies, unattainable for us today.

Ampere's hypothesis was an important fundamental step towards establishing the idea of the unity of nature. But it raised 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. Ampere himself solved this problem with true brilliance, acting both 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 current elements (“Ampere’s Law”) and the effect of currents on magnets (“Ampere’s rule”). Essentially, a new science of electricity and magnetism was created, and even the term “Electrodynamics” was coined by one of the great scientists of the past, André Marie Ampère. (V.I. Grigoriev)

More about Andre Marie Ampere:

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

Andre's exceptional abilities were evident 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 precisely in this area that his father’s library was clearly lacking, and Andre began visiting the library of the College of Lyon to read the works of great mathematicians.

The parents invited a math teacher to see Andre. Already at the first meeting, he realized what an extraordinary student he was dealing with. “Do you know how to extract roots?” - he asked Andre. “No,” the boy answered, “but I know how to integrate!” Soon the teacher abandoned the lessons, since his knowledge was clearly not enough to teach such a student.

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

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

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

In 1799 Ampere married Catherine Carron. IN next year They had a son, named after his father - Jean-Jacques. Later he became one of famous historians French literature. This joyful event was overshadowed by Catherine's illness. Living expenses rose 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-Brés, sixty kilometers from Lyon. From that moment his regular teaching activity, which lasted a lifetime.

Ampere dreamed of restructuring the traditional teaching of physics courses. Instead, there are boring teachers and officials, a poor laboratory and a poor physics room, and everyday everyday worries. However, he worked hard, filling in the gaps in his knowledge. At the same time, he did not abandon 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 Lyceum. Happy, he returned to Lyon, but soon a heavy blow fell on Ampere - his wife died.

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

In Paris, Ampere felt lonely. He was completely at the mercy of memories of his short happy life. This - main topic his letters to family 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. Excessive imbalance was added to them. All this prevented him from presenting well to his listeners the material that he actually mastered perfectly.

Some important events happened in Ampere'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 quarrelsome and limited person. Ampere made a lot of efforts to somehow reconcile with her in the name of the daughter born from this marriage. However, his efforts were in vain. New ones were added to the experiences on this basis - in 1809, Ampere’s mother died. These sad events could not but affect him scientific activity. Nevertheless, between 1809 and 1814 Ampère published several valuable works on series theory.

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

Ampere always considered mathematics as a powerful apparatus for solving various applied problems in physics and technology. Already his first published mathematical work, devoted to the theory of probability, was essentially of an applied nature and was called “Considerations on the mathematical theory of games” (1802). Questions of probability theory 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 the greatest mathematicians worked to overcome. Ampere also made his contribution to mathematical physics, as this branch of science is called. In 1814 alone, he completed several works that were highly praised by prominent French mathematicians, in particular Dallas, Lagrange and Poisson.

He also does not give up his studies in chemistry. His achievements in the field of chemistry include the discovery, independently of Amedeo Avogadro, of the law of equality of molar volumes of different 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 works that made Ampere’s name famous. He became a classic of science and a world-famous scientist thanks to his research in the field of electromagnetism.

In 1820, the Danish physicist G.-H. Oersted discovered that near a conductor carrying current, a magnetic needle deviates. This is how the remarkable property of electric current was discovered - to create a magnetic field. Ampere studied this phenomenon in detail. A New Look his idea of the nature of magnetic phenomena arose as a result of a 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 established that two parallel wires carrying a 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 electric relays and in many electrical measuring instruments.

Ampere immediately reported the results to the Academy. In a report given on September 18, 1820, he demonstrated his first experiments and concluded them with the following words: “In this regard, I have brought everything together magnetic phenomena to purely electrical effects." At a meeting on September 25, he developed these ideas further, demonstrating experiments in which coils flowing around a current (solenoids) interacted with each other like magnets.

Ampere's new ideas were not understood by all scientists. Some of his eminent colleagues also disagreed. Contemporaries said that after Ampere’s first report on the interaction of conductors with current, the following curious episode occurred. “What, exactly, 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.” Ampere did not immediately find an answer to this objection. But then Arago came to his aid. He took two keys out of his pocket and said: “Each of them also has an effect on the arrow, but they have no effect on each other, and therefore your conclusion is wrong. Ampere discovered, essentially, a new phenomenon, where greater value than the discovery of Professor Oersted, whom I respect.”

Despite the attacks of his scientific opponents. Ampere 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. Thus, step by step in Ampere’s work, a new science grew up - electrodynamics, based on experiments and mathematical theory. All the basic ideas of this science, in the words of James Maxwell, essentially “came out of the head of this Newton of electricity” in two weeks.

From 1820 to 1826, Ampere published a number of theoretical and experimental works on electrodynamics and gave a report on this topic at almost every meeting of the Academy's physics department. In 1826, his final classic work, “The Theory of Electrodynamic Phenomena, Deduced 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 reading two courses of lectures, I, however, do not want to completely abandon my work on voltaic conductors and magnets. I have only a few minutes."

Ampère's fame grew rapidly, and scientists spoke especially flatteringly about his experimental work on electromagnetism. Famous physicists visited him, and he received a number of invitations from other countries to give presentations on his work. But his health was undermined, and his financial situation was also 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 unconventionally, including a new section in the course - electrodynamics, the creator of which he himself was. The most suitable place for this was one of the oldest educational institutions in France - the Collège de France. After many troubles and intrigues, in 1824 Ampère was elected to the position of professor at the College de France. He was given the chair of general and experimental physics.

The last years of Ampere's life were overshadowed by many family and work troubles, which had a serious impact on his already poor health. External signs of success did not bring material well-being. He was still forced to devote a lot of time to lecturing at the expense of his scientific studies. But he did not abandon science.

In 1835, Ampère published a paper 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 debate between the famous scientists Cuvier and Saint-Hillaire, the predecessors of Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory, and published two biological works in which he outlined his point of view on the process of evolution. At one of the debates, opponents of the idea of the evolution of living nature asked Ampere whether he really believed that man descended from a snail. To this Ampere replied: “I am convinced that man arose according to a law common to all animals.”

Ampere's other hobby was the classification of sciences. This methodologically and generally scientifically important problem interested Ampere for a long time, since his work in Bourg-en-Brés. He developed his own system of classification of sciences, which he intended to present in a two-volume work. In 1834, the first volume of “Essays in the Philosophy of Sciences or Analytical Exposition of the Natural Classification of All Human Knowledge” was published. The second volume was published by Ampere's son after his death.

Ampere was a great master at inventing new scientific terms. It was he who introduced into the everyday life of scientists such words as “electrostatics”, “electrodynamics”, “solenoid”. Ampere suggested that in the future, a new science about the general laws of management processes will probably emerge. He proposed calling it “cybernetics.” Ampere’s prediction came true.