physicist – Page 3 – Who Knew Whom

Johann Heinrich Lambert

1728 (Mülhausen, Alsace, now Mulhouse, France) – 1777 (Berlin)

Lambert’s exceptional range of work is still under-appreciated. Among much else, he developed a pioneering form of non-Euclidean geometry, proved π to be irrational, and was among the first to understand that the Milky Way is a spiral nebula. He met d’Alembert in Paris during a 2-year trip through Europe. Euler invited him to take up a position in Berlin, where Lagrange was also based; as colleagues they extended his work, but Euler and he quarreled, Euler moving on. Bode (with whom he founded an influential astronomical yearbook) and Sulzer were other Berlin colleagues. Kant, a correspondent, greatly admired him.

Johann Heinrich Lambert knew…

Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac

Louis Joseph Gay-Lussac

chemist, physicist

1778 (St-Léonard-de-Noblat, France) - 1850 (Paris)

He was Berthollet’s teaching assistant and Fourcroy’s demonstrator. Laplace encouraged him; he worked on potassium and sodium with Thénard. He criticised Humboldt for a lack of precision, but they became friends and travelled together, climbed Vesuvius in full eruption, and showed that the composition of air does not change with altitude. Liebig, Pelouze and Regnault were all students of his. Biot and he made the first balloon ascent for scientific study; on another balloon flight he threw a chair overboard to gain height, causing locals to marvel that God owned such shabby furniture.

David Brewster

physicist, inventor, writer

1781 (Jedburgh, Scotland) – 1868 (Melrose)

Among his closest friends were Talbot (they corresponded in detail about Talbot’s photographic inventions), Roget (who was delighted by Brewster’s kaleidoscope), and Scott. On continental visits, he met Berthollet, Poisson, Arago, Biot, Laplace, Gay-Lussac, Pictet and de la Rive, while Gauss wrote his last-ever letter to him. Ordinarily mild, he found himself completely at odds with Whewell, Wheatstone and Fresnel. He taught Adamson the calotype process and introduced him to Hill, joined Babbage and Herschel in founding the British Association, and fell in love with his pupil, the cousin of his good friend-to-be, Somerville.

Pierre Duhem

physicist, historian of science, philosopher of science

1861 (Paris) – 1916 (Cabrespine, France)

Duhem published ground-breaking work in the history of science, made a substantial contribution to the philosophy of science, and did important work in mathematical physics. Hadamard was met as a student and remained a firm friend. Poincaré examined Duhem’s doctoral thesis (after his first one had been rejected — Duhem’s own talent for making enemies was outmatched by Berthelot’s shameful obstruction of his career), and remained a respectful colleague and correspondent. Mach was a significant correspondent and influence; Perrin looked up to Duhem, Curie disagreed with him about Maxwell, and Pasteur ignored him.

Pierre Duhem knew…

Pierre Curie
Louis Pasteur
Ernst Mach
Henri Poincaré
Jacques Hadamard
Jean Perrin
Paul Painlevé

John Dalton

chemist, physicist, meteorologist

1766 (Eaglesfield, England) – 1844 (Manchester)

Gough taught Dalton, and Owen was a close friend in Manchester (possibly also lodging together). Davy described him as “a very coarse experimenter”, who in fact had a knack for getting the imaginative reasoning right (Davy opposed his theory for 50 years; Dalton merely objected that Davy didn’t smoke). Whewell, Wollaston (a speedy supporter of his ideas), Brewster and Babbage (who was outraged that one so eminent was still forced to teach in his 70’s) all knew him in London, a place he avoided if possible; Berthollet, Laplace, Arago and other French scientists were met on his sole visit to Paris.

Auguste-Arthur de la Rive

physicist

1801 (Geneva) – 1873 (Marseille)

De la Rive was only 13 when Davy and Faraday came to stay as his father Charles Gaspard de la Rive’s guests; a deep and lifelong friendship with Faraday ensued. Ampère also came to stay with his father, and again became a good friend and influential colleague, who helped de la Rive confirm his specialised vocation as an electrical physicist; aged 21, de la Rive invited the older Ampère to visit and join in on one of his experiments. Henry also visited, while Le Verrier invited de la Rive to demonstrate his apparatus reproducing the behaviour of terrestrial aurorae. Airy, Babbage and Ørsted all corresponded with him.

Auguste-Arthur de la Rive knew…

Charles Gaspard de la Rive

chemist, physicist, mental-health campaigner

1770 (Geneva) – 1834 (Geneva)

Auguste-Arthur de la Rive was his son. Ampère, Davy and Faraday all stayed with the de la Rives in Geneva, where Pictet was a colleague jointly responsible for a significant scientific journal of the time, Bibliothèque Britannique. Berzelius was one of his correspondents; de la Rive supported his views, as well as Davy’s and Dalton’s. Dumont, when he wasn’t in London, was a fellow-mainstay of Geneva intellectual life.

Charles Gaspard de la Rive knew…

William Hyde Wollaston

William Hyde Woolaston

chemist, physicist

1766 (East Dereham, England) – 1828 (Chislehurst)

Wollaston has several claims to fame as a scientist. Davy was a close colleague in some of his experiments, Faraday silently observing (and later denying Wollaston any credit for his work anticipating the electric motor). Herschel, a correspondent like Haüy, was enthusiastic about Wollaston’s camera lucida; Talbot’s frustration with it however led to his own pioneering photographic work (Wollaston also demonstrated spectrographic dark lines to him). Scott diplomatically invited the two keen anglers Davy and Wollaston, putative rivals for the Royal Society presidency after Banks’ death, to fish at Abbottsford. Babbage, a friend, moved into Wollaston’s house after his own death.

William Hyde Wollaston knew…

Alessandro Volta

physicist

1745 (Como, Italy) – 1827 (Como)

The 18-year-old Volta corresponded with Spallanzani and Nollet. Inspired by Franklin’s and Priestley’s work, he wrote to Priestley about his generating device, the electrophorus. His realisation that Galvani was wrong about the frog’s legs led to his invention of the battery, and ultimately to the ending of their friendship. A great traveller, Volta visited Saussure in Switzerland (they discussed French poetry), stayed with Lichtenberg, worked with Laplace and Lavoisier as well as meeting Buffon and Franklin in France, and got to know Priestley, Banks and Watt in England. Voltaire arrived to meet him preceded by two mounted heralds.

André-Marie Ampère

physicist, mathematician

1775 (Lyon, France) – 1836 (Marseille)

Stendhal, Jussieu and Ampère were all regulars at Cuvier’s salon. Fresnel was a close friend and collaborator, and lived in Ampère’s house for 5 years. Other close friends included the critic Sainte-Beuve, and Arago, who in his absence authorised Ampère to continue an experiment with immediate success; Arago was as a result compelled to accept Ampère’s theory of electromagnetic induction. Davy and Faraday (a respected opponent) visited together, while Humboldt, Mérimée, Babbage, the de la Rives, Jussieu, Pictet, Quetelet and Young were among his other correspondents. He taught Cauchy, who later collaborated with him, and Carnot.