Ampère’s final happiness
Stories from Physics
for 11-14
14-16
Ampère’s life was marred by tragedy – his father was guillotined for being on the wrong side of the French Revolution and his first wife died while she was young. These events explain the epitaph chosen for Ampère’s tombstone: Tandem felix (happy at last). Ampère’s many achievements were celebrated after his death: he is one of 72 scientists, engineers and mathematicians whose names were honoured by being engraved on the Eiffel Tower.
References
L. Pearce Williams, Ampère, André-Marie, In C. B. Boyer, M. Clagett, E. N. Hiebert, T. S. Kuhn, R. Multhauf, A. I. Sabra, C. J. Schneer, L. G. Wilson, & H. Woolf (Eds.) Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Vol. 1, New York, NY, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2008, pp. 139-147, p. 139
L. P. Williams, Ampère’s electrodynamic molecular model. Contemporary Physics, vol. 4, no. 2, 1962, pp. 113-123, p. 120
A. Einstein, & J. W. De Haas, Experimental proof of the existence of Ampere’s molecular currents. Proc. KNAW, 181, 1915, p. 696-711
D. J. Leiter & S. L. Leiter, A to Z of Physicists. New York, NY, Facts on File Inc., 2003, p. 9
