Who is André-Marie Ampère and Why Should I Care?

Copyright © 2008 Milliamp LTD/www.ipodjuice.com

The length of time your iPodjuice battery will power your iPod between charges depends on its mAh rating. The higher the mAh number, the more listening time you have before you need to re-charge.

The mAh number stands for milliAmpere-hour. Ampere is the name physicists decided to give to the unit of current. The name honors André-Marie Ampère, who showed the connection between electricity and magnetism.

André-Marie Ampère lived in France between 1775 and 1836. He was a young genius who never went to school. His father taught him at home. André later wrote that his father never forced him to study anything, but instead inspired a “desire to know.”

Some say André taught himself calculus when he was eleven and understood all known mathematics by the time he was twelve. Not true! He was thirteen when he taught himself calculus.

André’s professional life took him to Paris as a Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique. He published papers on mathematics of course, but also on physics, chemistry and even zoology.

On September 11, 1820, he saw a demonstration of how electric current deflects a magnetic needle. Just a week later, he demonstrated that two wires carrying current attract and repel each other in the same way magnets do. Modern electro-dynamics was born.

André’s personal life was not happy. His father was executed during the French Revolution. His first wife died after five short years of marriage, and his second marriage failed. He could not get along with his son. His daughter married an alcoholic and the police had to be called to André’s home when the couple lived with him.

Your iPod batteries from iPodjuice have longer play time and longer life because of scientists like André-Marie Ampère, and once in a while we should take time to remember them.

Written by Anthony Magnabosco, Owner
Milliamp LTD/www.ipodjuice.com
December 2007