Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
1736–1806, Angoulême, France, Paris, France
Electricity and magnetism
French engineer and physicist who precisely measured the interaction force between electric charges, founding quantitative electrostatics.
Originally a military engineer, Coulomb turned to physics research after the French Revolution disrupted his career. Using a self-built torsion balance of extraordinary sensitivity, he measured that the force between two point charges falls off with the square of the distance — published in 1785, the same mathematical form as Newton's law of gravitation but for electrical interaction.
France