OHM, Georg Simon (1789-1854). 

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£ 14 000
Auction dateClassic
13.07.2022 10:30UTC +01:00
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CHRISTIE'S
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ID 794387
Lot 175 | OHM, Georg Simon (1789-1854). 
OHM, Georg Simon (1789-1854). 

Die galvanische Kette, mathematisch bearbeitet. Berlin: T. H. Riemann, 1827.

First edition of a pioneering work in the development of electrical science, containing the first fully developed presentation of Ohm's theory of electricity. Die galvanische Kette establishes the basis for Ohm’s Law, the ‘fundamental law of electrical circuits’ (Dibner), which states that the current passing through a conductor is proportional to the voltage over the resistance (electromotive force equals current times resistance). When it first appeared, Ohm's work was poorly received by his contemporaries, even within Germany, ‘largely because the majority of German physicists in 1827 represented a soon-to-be-superseded non-mathematical approach to physics’ (DSB). By the early 1830's, however, Ohm's fundamental law of electric circuits had been adopted by younger physicists studying electricity and full recognition of his importance came in 1841 with the award of the Copley Medal of the Royal Society and in 1881 when the ohm was established as the basic unit of electrical resistance. Dibner Heralds 63; Grolier/Horblit 81; Norman 1607; PMM 289.



Octavo (204 x 121mm). Folding engraved plate, errata leaf (lacking the advertisement leaf as usual, faint scattered browning and marginal staining). Later 19th-century dark green half morocco over boards, spine gilt (minor wear at corners). Provenance: Theodor Tucher (inscription on endpaper dated 1861).





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