{{Infobox_Scientist
| name = André-Marie Ampère
| image = Ampere1.jpg|225px
| image_width = 225px
| caption = André-Marie Ampère (1775-1836)
| birth_date = {{birth date|1775|1|20|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Poleymieux]], [[Lyon]], [[France]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1836|6|10|1775|1|20|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Marseille]], [[France]]
| residence = [[Image:Flag of France.svg|20px|]] [[France]]
| nationality = [[Image:Flag of France.svg|20px|]] [[France|French]]
| field = [[Physicist]]
| work_institutions = [[Bourg-en-Bresse]]</br>[[École Polytechnique]]
| alma_mater =
| doctoral_advisor =
| doctoral_students =
| known_for = [[Ampere's Law]]
| author_abbrev_bot =
| author_abbrev_zoo =
| prizes =
| religion =
| footnotes =
}}
'''André-Marie Ampère''' ([[January 20]] [[1775]] – [[June 10]] [[1836]]), was a French [[physicist]] who is generally credited as one of the main discoverers of [[electromagnetism]]. The [[SI]] unit of measurement of [[Current (electricity)|electric current]], the [[ampere]], is named after him.
==Early days==
Ampère was born on January 20, 1775<ref>{{cite book | title = André-Marie Ampère |last = Hormann | first = James R. |publisher = Cambridge University Press |year = 1996 |page = 8 }}</ref> in [[Lyon, France]], and lived from 1775 to 1836 in the nearby burg of [[Poleymieux-au-Mont-d'Or]]. As a [[child prodigy]], he took a passionate delight in the pursuit of knowledge from his very infancy, and is reported to have worked out long arithmetical sums by means of pebbles and biscuit crumbs before he knew the figures. His father began to teach him [[Latin]], but ceased on discovering the boy's greater inclination and aptitude for mathematical studies. The young Ampère, however, soon resumed his Latin lessons, to enable him to master the works of [[Leonhard Euler|Euler]] and [[Daniel Bernoulli|Bernoulli]].
In later life he was accustomed to say that he knew as much about mathematics when he was eighteen as ever he knew; but, a [[polymath]], his reading embraced nearly the whole round of knowledge — history, travels, poetry, philosophy and the natural sciences.
In 1796 he met Julie Carron, the daughter of a blacksmith living near Lyon, and an attachment sprang up between them. In 1799 they were married. From about 1796 Ampère gave private lessons at Lyon in [[mathematics]], [[chemistry]] and languages; and in 1801 he removed to Bourg, as professor of [[physics]] and chemistry, leaving his ailing wife and infant son ([[Jean Jacques Ampère]]) at Lyon. She died in 1804, and he never recovered from her death. In the same year he was appointed professor of mathematics at the ''[[lycée]]'' of Lyon.
Ampère used to say that "at eighteen years he found three culminating points in his life, his [[First Communion]], the reading of Thomas's "Eulogy of Descartes", and the [[Taking of the Bastille]]... On the day of his wife's death he wrote two verses from the [[Psalm]]s, and the prayer, 'O Lord, God of Mercy, unite me in Heaven with those whom you have permitted me to love on earth.' Serious doubts harassed him at times, and made him very unhappy. Then he would take refuge in the reading of the [[Bible]] and the Fathers of the Church." <ref>{{cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Catholic Encyclopedia | work = | publisher = | date = | url = http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01437c.htm| format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-12-29 }}</ref>
==Contributions to physics and further studies==
[[Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre]]'s recommendation obtained for him the Lyon appointment, and afterwards (1804) a subordinate position in the polytechnic school at Paris, where he was appointed professor of mathematics in 1809. Here he continued to pursue his scientific research and his diverse studies with unabated diligence. He was admitted as a member of the Institute in 1814.
Ampère's fame mainly rests on the service that he rendered to science in establishing the relations between electricity and magnetism, and in developing the science of electromagnetism, or, as he called it, electrodynamics. On [[September 11]], [[1820]] he heard of [[Hans Christian Ørsted|H. C. Ørsted's]] discovery that a magnetic needle is acted on by a voltaic current. Only a week later, on [[September 18]], he presented a paper to the Academy containing a far more complete exposition of that and kindred phenomena.
==Legacy and final days==
[[Image:Ampere grave.jpg|thumb|right|Grave of Ampere]]
The field of electromagnetism thus opened up, he explored with characteristic industry and care, and developed a mathematical theory which not only explained the electromagnetic phenomena already observed, but also predicted many new ones.
Ampère's final work, published posthumously, was "Essai sur la philosophie des sciences, ou exposition analytique d'une classification naturelle de toutes les connaissances humaines" ("Essay on the philosophy of science or analytical exposition on the natural classification of human knowledge").
Ampère died at [[Marseille]] and is buried in the [[Cimetière de Montmartre]], Paris. The great amiability and childlike simplicity of his character are well brought out in his ''Journal et correspondence'' (Paris, 1872).
==References==
<references />
==Further reading==
* {{cite book | title = André-Marie Ampère |last = Hofmann | first = James R. |publisher = Cambridge University Press |year = 1996}}
* {{cite encyclopedia
| last = Williams
| first = L. Pearce
| title = Ampère, André-Marie
| encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Scientific Biography]]
| volume = 1
| pages = 139-147
| publisher = Charles Scribner's Sons
| location = New York
| date= 1970
| isbn = 0684101149
}}
==External links==
{{commonscat}}
* [http://www.ampere.cnrs.fr Ampere and the history of electricity] (Correspondence, bibliography, experiments, simulations, etc., edited by CNRS, France)
* [http://www.ampere.cnrs.fr/actualites/page_musee.php Ampere's Museum (CNRS)] is in Poleymieux-au-Mont-d'or, near [[Lyon]], [[France]]
* {{MacTutor Biography|id=Ampere}}
* {{ScienceWorldBiography | urlname=Ampere | title=Ampère, André (1775-1836)}}
*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01437c.htm Catholic Encyclopedia on André Marie Ampère]
*{{1911}}
<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
{{Persondata
|NAME= Ampère, André-Marie
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION= [[Physicist]]
|DATE OF BIRTH= {{birth date|1775|1|22|mf=y}}
|PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Polémieux]], [[Lyon]], [[France]]
|DATE OF DEATH= {{death date|1836|6|10|mf=y}}
|PLACE OF DEATH= [[Marseille]], [[France]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ampere, Andre-Marie}}
[[Category:1775 births]]
[[Category:1836 deaths]]
[[Category:Electrostatics]]
[[Category:French physicists]]
[[Category:Alumni of the École Polytechnique]]
[[Category:People associated with electricity]]
[[Category:People from Lyon]]
[[af:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[ar:أندري ماري أمبير]]
[[bn:অঁদ্রে-মারি অম্পেয়্যার]]
[[bs:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[bg:Андре-Мари Ампер]]
[[ca:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[cs:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[da:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[de:André Marie Ampère]]
[[el:Αντρέ Μαρί Αμπέρ]]
[[es:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[eo:André Marie Ampère]]
[[fr:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[fy:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[gl:André Marie Ampère]]
[[ko:앙드레 마리 앙페르]]
[[hr:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[io:André Marie Ampère]]
[[id:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[is:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[it:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[he:אנדרה מרי אמפר]]
[[la:Andreas Maria Ampère]]
[[lb:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[lt:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[hu:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[nl:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[ja:アンドレ＝マリ・アンペール]]
[[no:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[nn:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[pl:André Marie Ampère]]
[[pt:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[ro:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[ru:Ампер, Андре Мари]]
[[sk:André Marie Ampère]]
[[sl:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[sr:Андре-Мари Ампер]]
[[sh:André Marie Ampére]]
[[fi:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[sv:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[vi:André-Marie Ampère]]
[[tr:Andre Marie Ampere]]
[[uk:Ампер Андре-Марі]]
[[zh:安德烈-玛丽·安培]]