List of scientists whose names are used as units explained

Many scientists have been recognized with the assignment of their names as international units by the International Committee for Weights and Measures or as non-SI units. The International System of Units (abbreviated SI from French: Système international d'unités) is the most widely used system of units of measurement. There are 7 base units and 22 derived units[1] (excluding compound units). These units are used both in science and in commerce. Two of the base SI units and 17 of the derived units are named after scientists.[2] 28 non-SI units are named after scientists. By this convention, their names are immortalised. As a rule, the SI units are written in lowercase letters, but symbols of units derived from the name of a person begin with a capital letter.

Scientists and SI units

Base unit[3] Derived unit
(colour legend)
Name[4] [5] LifeNationalityQuantity[6] SI unitImage
André-Marie Ampère[7] 1775–1836FrenchElectric current[8] ampere (A)
(Base unit)
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin[9] 1824–1907British (Scottish-Northern Irish)Thermodynamic temperature[10] kelvin (K)
(Base unit)
Blaise Pascal[11] 1623–1662FrenchPressure[12] pascal (Pa)
Isaac Newton[13] 1643–1727British (English)Force[14] newton (N)
Anders Celsius[15] 1701–1744SwedishTemperature[16] degree Celsius (°C)
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb[17] 1736–1806FrenchElectric charge[18] coulomb (C)
James Watt[19] 1736–1819British (Scottish)Power[20] watt (W)
Alessandro Volta[21] 1745–1827ItalianElectric potential[22] volt (V)
Georg Simon Ohm[23] 1789–1855GermanElectrical resistance[24] ohm (Ω)
Michael Faraday[25] 1791–1867British (English)Capacitance[26] farad (F)
Joseph Henry[27] 1797–1878AmericanInductance[28] henry (H)
Wilhelm Eduard Weber[29] 1804–1891GermanMagnetic flux[30] weber (Wb)
Ernst Werner von Siemens[31] 1816–1892GermanConductance[32] siemens (S)
James Prescott Joule[33] 1818–1889British (English)Energy[34] joule (J)
Antoine Henri Becquerel[35] 1852–1908FrenchRadioactivitybecquerel (Bq)
Nikola Tesla[36] 1856–1943Serbian[37] -AmericanMagnetic flux density[38] tesla (T)
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz[39] 1857–1894GermanFrequency[40] hertz (Hz)
Rolf Maximilian Sievert[41] 1896–1966SwedishDose equivalent of radiationsievert (Sv)
Louis Harold Gray[42] 1905–1965British (English)Absorbed dose of radiation[43] gray (Gy)

Scientists and non-SI units

Name of the scientist[44] [45] Life NationalityQuantityUnit[46] Image
1544–1603British (English)Magnetomotive forcegilbert (Gi)
John Napier1550–1617British (Scottish)Magnitude (ln, dimensionless)neper (Np)
Galileo Galilei1564–1642ItalianAccelerationgal (Gal)
1608–1647Italiantorr (Torr)
1683–1757FrenchTemperaturedegree Reaumur (°R)
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit1686–1736Polish-Dutch-GermanTemperaturedegree Fahrenheit (°F)
1728–1777GermanLuminancelambert (L)
1766–1844BritishMass (atomic)dalton (Da)
Hans Christian Ørsted1777–1851DanishMagnetic fieldoersted (Oe)
1777–1855GermanMagnetic flux densitygauss (G)
Michael Faraday1791–1867British (English)Electric chargefaraday (F)
1797–1869Frenchpoise (P)
Anders Jonas Ångström1814–1874SwedishLengthangstrom (Å)
Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet1818–1903BritishKinematic viscositystokes (St)
William John Macquorn Rankine1820–1872British (Scottish)Thermodynamic temperaturedegree Rankine (°Ra)
James Clerk Maxwell1831–1879British (Scottish)Magnetic fluxmaxwell (Mx)
Samuel Pierpont Langley1834–1906AmericanEnergy intensitylangley (Ly)
Ernst Mach1838–1916AustrianSpeedMach number (M)
John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh1842–1919BritishAcoustic impedancerayl
Wilhelm Röntgen1845–1923GermanIonizing radiationröntgen (R)
Alexander Graham Bell1847–1922British (Scottish)-AmericanMagnitude (log10, dimensionless)bel (B)
Loránd Eötvös1848–1919HungarianGravitational gradienteotvos (E)
Heinrich Kayser1853–1940GermanWavenumberkayser
Joseph John Thomson1856–1940British (English)Mass-to-charge ratiothomson (Th)
1867–19341859–1906Polish-FrenchRadioactivitycurie (Ci)
Heinrich Mache1876–1954AustrianRadioactivityMache (ME)
Peter Debye1884–1966DutchElectric dipole momentdebye (D)
Karl Guthe Jansky1905–1950AmericanSpectral irradiancejansky (JY)
Wallace Clement Sabine1868–1919AmericanSound absorption

See also

Bakwas

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/units.html Essential of the SI
  2. http://www.gordonengland.co.uk/conversion/siderived1.htm Derived SI units with special names
  3. There are 5 base units that are not named after people: kilogram, metre, second, mole and candela.
  4. Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia
  5. Elektrik Mühendisliği pp. 247–275
  6. Young and Freedman, p. A-1
  7. https://web.archive.org/web/20040708161032/http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Andre_Marie_Ampere |Andre Marie Ampere
  8. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ampere|Define Ampere on Dictionary
  9. http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Kelvin.html Kelvin, Lord William Thomson
  10. https://archive.today/20120710153511/http://inventors.about.com/od/kstartinventions/a/Lord_Kelvin.htm Inventors
  11. http://www.thocp.net/biographies/pascal_blaise.html Blaise Pascal
  12. http://www.sensorsone.co.uk/pressure-measurement-glossary/pa-pascal-pressure-unit.html Pa Pascal pressure unit
  13. http://www.newton.ac.uk/newtlife.html Isaac Newton's life
  14. http://www.sizes.com/units/newton.htm Newton
  15. http://www.astro.uu.se/history/Celsius_eng.html Anders Celsius (1701–1744)
  16. http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Celcius Celsius Definition
  17. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/140071/Charles-Augustin-de-Coulomb Charles Augustin de Coulomb (French Physicist)
  18. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/140066/coulomb Coulomb
  19. https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/watt_james.shtml BBC Historic figures
  20. http://www.unitconversion.org/power/watt-conversion.html Watt conversion)
  21. http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/volta.htm Inventor Alessandro Volta Biography
  22. http://www.sizes.com/units/volt.htm Volt
  23. Web site: 13 April 2021. Georg Simon Ohm. St. Andrews University.
  24. http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Ohm+(unit) Ohm (unit)
  25. http://www.phy.hr/~dpaar/fizicari/xfaraday.html Michael Faraday
  26. http://www.efunda.com/glossary/units/units--electric_capacitance--farad.cfm Farad
  27. http://www.nas.edu/history/members/henry.html Joseph Henry
  28. http://www.answers.com/topic/Henry Henry: Definition from Answers
  29. [s:The New International Encyclopædia/Weber, Wilhelm|The New International Encyclopaedia: Weber]
  30. http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Weber_(unit) Weber (unit)
  31. http://www.uv.es/EBRIT/micro/micro_546_34.html Siemens, Werner von
  32. http://medbib.com/Mho Siemens (unit)
  33. Web site: Biography:James Prescott Joule . 2 May 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121021204930/http://library.thinkquest.org/10170/voca/jouleb.htm . 21 October 2012 . dead .
  34. http://www.experts123.com/q/what-is-a-joule.html What is a Joule ?
  35. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/becquerel-bio.html Henri Becquerel
  36. http://www.teslasociety.com/biography.htm Tesla's Biography
  37. The village he was born was a part of Austrian Empire, now it is in Croatia.
  38. http://www.teslasociety.com/teslaunit.htm Tesla (unit)
  39. http://www.biographicon.com/view/rcnuk Heinrich Hertz
  40. http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/eecs20/sidebars/hertz/ Hertz
  41. http://ki.se/ki/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=9498&a=18510&l=en Rolf Sievert, the man and the unit
  42. http://www.lhgraytrust.org/lhgraybiography.html About L.G.Gray
  43. http://www.sizes.com/units/gray.htm Gray
  44. Isaac Asimov: Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Pan Reference Books, London, 1972,
  45. Elektrik Mühendisliği, TBMMO Yayın organı, 259–260, Ankara, 1978
  46. As a rule, the units are written in lowercase letters. But, symbols of units derived from a personal name always begin with a capital letter.

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