Ohm, Georg Simon (gā`ôrkh zē`môn ōm), 1787–1854, German physicist. He was professor at Munich from 1852. His study of electric current led to his formulation of the law now known as Ohm's law Ohm's law (ōm) [for G. S. Ohm ], law stating that the electric current i flowing through a given resistance r
..... Click the link for more information. . The unit of electrical resistance (see ohm ohm (ōm) [for G. S. Ohm ], unit of electrical resistance , defined as the resistance in a circuit in which a potential difference of one
..... Click the link for more information. ) was named for him. He also made studies in acoustics and in crystal interference. His writings include The Galvanic Current Investigated Mathematically (1827, tr. 1891).

Ohm, Georg Simon

Ohm, detail of a lithograph

(credit: Historia-Photo)

(born March 16, 1789, Erlangen, Bavaria—died July 6, 1854, Munich) German physicist. While teaching mathematics at the Jesuits' College in Cologne (1817–27), he discovered that the flow of electric current through a conductor is directly proportional to the potential difference, or voltage, and inversely proportional to the resistance. He resigned when his theory (Ohm's law) was coldly received. His theory soon came to be widely recognized, and he subsequently taught in Nürnberg (1833–49) and Munich (1849–54). The physical unit measuring electrical resistance was named for him.

Ohm, Georg Simon - Georg Simon Ohm