Scientific units named after people

From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)

This is a list of scientific units named after people. For other lists of eponyms (names derived from people) see eponym.

Contents

SI base units

  • Ampere, electric current – André-Marie Ampère
  • Kelvin, thermodynamic temperature – Lord Kelvin

SI derived unit

  • Becquerel, radioactivity – Henri Becquerel
  • Degree Celsius, temperature – Anders Celsius
  • Coulomb, electric charge – Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
  • Farad, capacitance – Michael Faraday
  • Gray, absorbed dose of radiation - Louis Harold Gray
  • Henry, inductance – Joseph Henry
  • Hertz, frequency – Heinrich Rudolf Hertz
  • Joule, energy, work, heat – James Prescott Joule
  • Newton, force – Isaac Newton
  • Ohm, electrical resistance – Georg Ohm
  • Pascal, pressure – Blaise Pascal
  • Siemens, electrical conductance – Werner von Siemens
  • Sievert, radiation dose equivalent – Rolf Sievert
  • Tesla, magnetic flux density – Nikola Tesla
  • Volt, electric potential, electromotive force – Alessandro Volta
  • Watt, power, radiant flux – James Watt
  • Weber, magnetic flux – Wilhelm Eduard Weber

Centimeter-gram-second system of units

  • Biot, electric current; Jean-Baptiste Biot
  • Debye, electric dipole moment; Peter Debye
  • Gauss, magnetic induction – Carl Friedrich Gauss
  • Maxwell, magnetic flux – James Clerk Maxwell
  • Oersted, magnetic field strength – Hans Christian Ørsted
  • Galileo, acceleration; Galileo Galilei
  • Eotvos, gravitational gradient; Loránd Eötvös

No longer in use

  • Franklin, electric charge – Benjamin Franklin

Others

  • Angstrom, distance – Anders Jonas Ångström
  • Curie, radioactivity – Marie and Pierre Curie
  • Decibel (i.e. tenths of Bels) dimensionless proportions and ratios, e.g. relative power levels – Alexander Graham Bell
  • Degree Fahrenheit, temperature – Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
  • Jansky, flux density – Karl Jansky
  • Neper, relative power level – John Napier
  • Poise, viscosity – Jean Louis Marie Poiseuille
  • Röntgen, dosage of X-rays or gamma radiation – Wilhelm Röntgen
  • Richter scale, earthquake power – Charles Francis Richter
  • Stokes, viscosity – George Gabriel Stokes
  • Svedberg, sedimentation rate – Theodor Svedberg

No longer in use

  • Mercalli Intensity Scale, earthquake effects – Giuseppe Mercalli
  • Degree Rankine, temperature – William John Macquorn Rankine
  • Réaumur, temperature – René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur
  • Torr, pressure – Evangelista Torricelli

See also

  • List of eponyms
  • Lists of etymologies


--Angel 13:09, 8 June 2006 (CDT)