Charles Augustin Coulomb

Born in Angoulême, France, in 1736, Charles-Augustin de Coulomb trained as an engineer and spent part of his career in military engineering before becoming widely known for his scientific research. His work combined practical skill with unusually exact measurement, a quality that shaped everything he studied.

Coulomb is most closely linked with the law of electrostatic attraction and repulsion that now bears his name, developed through experiments using a torsion balance. He also investigated magnetism, the strength of materials, and friction, helping lay foundations for both physics and engineering.

He died in Paris in 1806, but his influence lasted far beyond his lifetime. The unit of electric charge, the coulomb, was later named in his honor, reflecting how central his work became to the study of electricity.