Makers of ElectricityWalsh, James J. (James Joseph)
History
Makers of Electricity
Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)
Electricity -- Biography
How much Ohm was beloved by those who knew him best can be properly
appreciated from the following passage from the panegyric delivered in
Munich in 1855, not long after his death, by Professor Lamont, who had
known him intimately: "Nature," he said, "conferred upon Ohm goodness of
heart and unselfishness to an unusual degree. These precious qualities
formed the groundwork of all his intercourse with his fellows. Despite
the underlying strength of his character, which kept him faithfully at
work during all his career, whenever there was question of merely
personal advantage to himself, he preferred to yield to pressure from
without, rather than rouse himself to resistance, and he thus avoided
all bitterness in life. The unfortunate events which forced him, during
the early part of his career, from an advantageous position back into
private life, did not produce any misanthropic feelings in him, and when
later a brilliant recognition gave him that rank in the world of science
which by right belonged to him, his simplicity of conduct was not in
any way modified, nor was the modesty of his disposition at all
altered." In a word, Ohm was one of those rare geniuses whose
magnanimity placed him above the vicissitudes of fortune. His power to
do original work was not disturbed by the opposition which a really new
discoverer invariably meets, but his unfailing equanimity was just as
little exalted into conceit and pretentiousness by the praise which so
justly came to him once the real significance of his scientific work
dawned upon the world.
With the realization of all that Ohm's Work meant in the department of
electricity, it is easy to understand how his name deserves a place in
the science for all time. In order permanently to honor his memory, the
International Congress of Electricians, which met at Paris in 1881,
confirmed the action of the British Association of 1861, by giving the
name _ohm_ to the unit of electrical resistance. This is an ideal
monument to the great worker. It is as simple and modest a reward as
even he would have wished, expressing as it does, the gratitude of
succeeding generations of scientists for all time.
FOOTNOTES:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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