Paul Erman (29 February 1764 – 11 October 1851) was a German

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

from

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

and a

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

of the fourth generation. His work was mainly concerned with

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

and

magnetism Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that occur through a magnetic field, which allows objects to attract or repel each other. Because both electric currents and magnetic moments of elementary particles give rise to a magnetic field, ...

, though he also made some contributions to

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of optical instruments, instruments that use or Photodetector, detect it. Optics usually describes t ...

and

physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

Life

He was the son of the historian Jean Pierre Erman (1735–1814), author of ''Histoire des réfugiés''. Erman became teacher of science successively at the French gymnasium ( Französisches Gymnasium Berlin) in

, and at the military academy, and on the foundation of the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

in 18 months he was chosen professor of physics. Erman died in Berlin. He had a son, Georg Adolf Erman who was a physicist, and a grandson Johann Peter Adolf Erman, known as an Egyptologist.

Awards

Erman is one of the three four recipients of the Galvanism Prize awarded by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

. He obtained 3000 francs for his scientific research.

References

* 1764 births 1851 deaths 19th-century German physicists Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences Scientists from Berlin People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Foreign members of the Royal Society 18th-century German physicists Physicists from the Kingdom of Prussia {{Germany-physicist-stub