19th Century Pioneer

Andre Marie Ampere (1775 – 1836).  France.

Ampere was a mathematician and teacher.  He repeated the experiments of Oersted that showed the connection between electricity and magnetism.  He demonstrated the effect that a wire carrying a current has on a compass needle, and demonstrated that parallel wires carrying electric current can attract or repel each other depending on the direction of the current flow.

The unit of measure for electrical current, called the Ampere (Amp) was named in his honor in 1881 at the Paris conference of electricians.

Source:  Columbia Encyclopedia