Hall, Edwin H.

Hall, Edwin H. (Herbert)

(1855–1938) physicist; born in Great Falls (later North Gorham), Maine. He discovered the electromagnetic potential difference of conductors, now known as the "Hall effect," while a graduate student at Johns Hopkins (1879). He continued his thermoelectric research at Harvard (1881–1921), where he also wrote numerous physics textbooks and laboratory manuals.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.