Makers of ElectricityWalsh, James J. (James Joseph)
History
Makers of Electricity
Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)
Electricity -- Biography
On the following Sunday he was followed to the grave by numbers of
friends, by all his colleagues and by most of the students of the Munich
University. The university felt that it had suffered a great loss, and
no signs of its grief were felt to be too much. Ohm was buried in the
old Munich graveyard, where his bones still rest, beneath the simple
memorial not unworthy of the modest scientist who did his work patiently
and quietly, yet with never-failing persistency; who cared not for the
applause of the multitude, and accomplished so much quite independently
of any of the ordinary helps from others and from great educational
institutions that are often supposed to be almost indispensably
necessary for the accomplishment of original scientific work.
Ohm's personal appearance will be of interest to many of those to whom
his discoveries have made him appeal as one of the great original
thinkers in modern science. He was almost small in stature, even below
middle height; and those who remember Virchow, may get something of an
idea of his appearance when told that those who saw Ohm and knew
Virchow, considered that there was a certain reminder of each other in
the two men. According to his intimate friend and biographer, he had a
very expressive face, with a high, somewhat doubled forehead. His eyes
were deep and full of intelligence. His mouth, very sharply defined,
betrayed, at the first glance, at once the earnest thinker and the
pleasant man of friendly disposition. He was always restful and never
seemed to be distracted. He talked but little, but his conversation was
always interesting, and, except when he was in some particularly serious
mood, was always likely to have a vein of light humor in it. He did not
hesitate to introduce a sparkle of wit now and then into his lectures,
and especially knew how gently to make fun of mistakes made by his
pupils, yet in such a way as not to hurt their feelings, but to make
them realize the necessity for more careful thought before giving
answers, and for appreciating principles before speculating on them. He
was particularly careful not to do anything that would offend his
students in any way, and it is to this care that the success of his
method of teaching has been especially attributed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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