Wilhelm Weber

Chladni lived in the same house as Weber’s family, and inspired the teenager. Weber first met the older Gauss, who was responsible for his appointment to Göttingen, at Humboldt’s; they became good friends and collaborated closely for six years, setting up the world’s first telegraph, over 3km connecting observatory and university. Friedrich Kohlrausch (later an important collaborator), Siemens, and Riemann were all students of Weber’s, and Dirichlet another close friend and colleague (he took in Dirichlet’s children after both parents died suddenly). Weber met Fechner through his brothers, during his politically-related banishment from Göttingen.