No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
We have the unit " coulomb " and the torsion balance handled in o w student days to perpetuate the earlier of tlie two ; but these arc of ncadcinic interest rather than practical. AnipErc, on tlic other hand, was inore fortnnatc, for liis nainc is on every ciirreiit-iiieiisiirer in the world, and France lins issued a iiieinorinl stninp to jog our incinory furtlier.
As iiii infant Ampi?rc was a prodigy, using pebbles and beans to work out arithmetical sunis before lie knew the figures. When tlicsc were trikcii aw;iy from hiin by parents alarnicd a t such over-dcvcloped ability, he showed tlic first signs of the coming research-worker by finding substitutes for appnratus not available. He used bread crumbs. The child grew up to consuiiic greedily large portions of history, poetry, and pliilosophy. In the Lyons library wlicrc his fnthcr took hiin, lie asked for the works of Bernoulli and Euler. " Reflect, my little friend. These works rank niiiong tlic inost abstruse the human mind has ever prodnccd," was the comment of thc librarian. IIe was not put off even hy tlic Latin in which they wcrc written, but returned when lic had gained proficiency in it. And his niarrelloiis nieniory iiierint that years later he was able to quote piigcs of test on fiilconry and on a host of otlicr topics digested in his youth.
13s progress wris innrrcd by tragedy. There is no record in liuinnn liistory of a happy pliilosopher-or so JIenckcn tells 11s. Wlien but ciglitccii years of age the first cruel blow catnc, for his fnthcr was throvn into prison with tlic taking of Lyons by tlie army of the Convention, and tlicn wis bc1ie:tded. In a liist letter to his wife Jciiii Jnccliics ihipbrc asked thnt liis dnugliter should never be told of his fate, but iis for iiiy son, I expect cvcrptlung of him" It took a few years for the son to gct back to tlic philosopher's way, to forget his sorrow in the works of Rousscnu. A second blow to n scnsitivc mind cntne in 1801 with tlic dcatli of his wife, I)clovcd Julie Ciirron, wlioni lie inct giitlieriiig flowers by ii strcani near PolCmiciis, wlierc Anipbrc was botniiieing. In spitc of such sctbncks AnipErc continued on tlic road to fume. Ire I d bccn s a w 1 for science when the pnrciits of Julie Crirron failed to persuade llini to get a fiscd job, to work in 11 shop iiiifolding silks froin inorn till night. Instcntl of this he l~ccaiiic professor a t Bourg : i n t ~ later ;it the &OIC 1'01ytechnique in Paris. Tlicrc \vcrc tliosc w110 maintained tllilt lic lviis never intended to be a tcaclier, thut rcsearcli was liis true w X c r , 13ut lie wus it popnliir Iccturcr, for he liatl n way with students. One day, wiving about a ruler i n his cntlinsinsin, Iic hit ti tuniLlcr and the frtrgincnts of glitss fell into his eau sucric. To tlic horror of liis stntlents lie drank the latter in spitc of their cries conccrtiing tlic danger of broken glass. l i e reminded tlicni of tlic difl'crcncc in spccific gravity between glass and the liquid and poiiitcd out that lie had llcltl tlic vessel at itti nppropriatc angle. ' I All ! If 1 liad driiiik a t this angle," he cried, tilting it niore, ' I --but I wiis too knowing for thnt " ! Witliin seven (lays of Iieriring of Oerstcdt's discovery of the rnagnctic cfkct of a current, Ainpbrc
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