Home > Charles-Augustin de Coulomb

Born in Angoulême, France. He chose the profession of military engineer, spent three years, to the decided injury of his health, at Fort Bourbon , Martinique, and was employed on his return at La Rochelle, the Isle of Aix and Cherbourg.

In 1781 he was stationed permanently at Paris, but on the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789 he resigned his appointment as intendant des eaux et fontaines, and retired to a small estate which he possessed at BloisBlois is the prefecture (capital) city of the Loir-et-Cher departement of France on the banks of the lower river Loire between Orleans and Tours. The city has a population of approximately 51,832 (1999). The famous Chateau de Blois, a Renaissance chateau. He was recalled to Paris for a time in order to take part in the new determination of weights and measuresThe definition, agreement and practical use of units of weights and measures have played a crucial role in human endeavor from early ages up to this day. Just to underline the importance of agreed units, the NASA Mars Polar Lander in December 1999 crashed, which had been decreed by the Revolutionary government. Of the National Institute he was one of the first members; and he was appointed inspector of public instruction in 1802Events March 16 West Point is established. March 25/ 27 Treaty of Amiens between France and United Kingdom ends the War of the Second Coalition. March 28 H. Olbers discovers the asteroid Pallas. May 19 Napoleon Bonaparte establishes the French legion d'ho. But his health was already very feeble, and four years later he died at Paris.

Coulomb is distinguished in the history of mechanicsMechanics ( Latin mechanicus from the Greek mechanikos "one skilled in machines") is a variety of specialised sciences pertaining to the functions and routine operations of machines, machine-like devices or objects. When preceded by a qualifier, mechanics and of electricityElectricity is a property of certain subatomic particles, such as electrons and protons, that gives rise to attractive and repulsive forces between them. It is one of the four fundamental forces of nature, and is a conserved property of matter that can be and magnetismIn physics, magnetism is a phenomenon by which materials exert an attractive or repulsive force on other materials. Some well known materials that exhibit easily detectable magnetic properties are iron, some steels, and the mineral lodestone; however, all. In 1779Events The Iron Bridge is completed across the Severn river in Shropshire; the first all cast-iron bridge ever constructed. Boulton and Watt's Smethwick Engine, now the oldest working engine in the world, is brought into service. The city of Tampere is fo he published an important investigation of the laws of frictionIn physics, friction is the resistive force that occurs when two surfaces travel along each other when forced together. It causes physical deformation and heat buildup. The frictional force is a function of the force pressing the surfaces together and the (Théorie des machines simples, en ayant égard au frottement de leurs parties et à la roideur des cordages), which was followed twenty years later by a memoir on viscosity.

In 1785 appeared his Recherches théoriques et expérimentales sur la force de torsion et sur l'élasticité des fils de metal. This memoir contained a description of different forms of his torsion balance , an instrument used by him with great success for the experimental investigation of the distribution of charge on surfaces and of the laws of electrical and magnetic force, of the mathematical theory of which he may also be regarded as the founder.

The unit of charge, the coulomb, and Coulomb's law are named after him.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica Please update as needed.