Charles-Augustin de Coulomb

Charles-Augustin de Coulomb

Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (June 14, 1736 – August 23, 1806) was a French physicist. He is best known for developing Coulomb's law, the definition of the electrostatic force of attraction and repulsion. The unit of charge, the coulomb, was named after him.

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• On graduating from the school, a studious young man who would withstand the tedium and monotony of his duties has no choice but to lose himself in some branch of science or literature completely irrelevant to his assignment.
  • as quoted by C. Stewart Gillmor (1971). Coulomb and the Evolution of Physics and Engineering in Eighteenth-century France. Princeton University Press. p. 255-261. ISBN 069108095X.  had a degree in physiology, from Cambridge University

• To prevent any systematic dispute against the theory that follows, I declare that in the hypothesis of two electrical fluids, I have no other intention than to present, with the fewest possible elements, the results of calculation and experiment, and not to indicate the true causes of electricity.
  • Sixième Mémoire sur l'Électricité [Sixth Memoir on Electricity] (1788), published in Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences (1791), p. 569.
    • Original French: "Je préviens pour mettre la théorie qui va suivre à l'abri de toute dispute systématique, que dans la supposition des deux fluides électriques, je n'ai d'autre intention que de présenter avec le moins d'élémens possible, les résultats de calcul et de l'expérience, et non d'indiquer les véritables causes de l'électricité."