Editing Georg Ohm (section)

==Discovery of Ohm's law==
{{further|Ohm's Law}}

Ohm's law first appeared{{efn|Ohm's law, that electric current is proportional to a potential difference, was first discovered by [[Henry Cavendish]], but Cavendish did not publish his electrical discoveries in his lifetime and they did not become known until 1879, long after Ohm had independently made the discovery and published himself. Thus the law came to bear the name of Ohm.}} in the famous book {{lang|de|Die galvanische Kette, mathematisch bearbeitet}} (''The Galvanic Circuit Investigated Mathematically'') (1827) in which he gave his complete theory of electricity.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=34}} In this work, he stated his law for [[electromotive force]] acting between the extremities of any part of a [[electrical circuit|circuit]] is the product of the strength of the [[electric current|current]], and the [[electrical resistance|resistance]] of that part of the circuit.<ref>Die galvanische kette: mathematisch By Georg Simon Ohm [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_tTVQAAAAcAAJ/page/n188 Pg. 181]</ref><ref>The galvanic circuit investigated mathematically By Georg Simon Ohm [https://books.google.com/books?id=Qkh8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA202 Pg. 202]</ref>

The book begins with the mathematical background necessary for an understanding of the rest of the work. While his work greatly influenced the theory and applications of current electricity,<ref name=EB1911/> it was coldly received at that time. Ohm presents his theory as one of contiguous action, a theory which opposed the concept of [[action at a distance]]. Ohm believed that the communication of electricity occurred between "contiguous particles" which is the term he himself used. The paper is concerned with this idea, and in particular with illustrating the differences in this scientific approach of Ohm's and the approaches of [[Joseph Fourier]] and [[Claude-Louis Navier]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=B. |last=Pourprix |title=G. S. Ohm théoricien de l'action contiguë |journal=Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences |volume=45 |issue=134 |year=1995 |pages=30–56 |language=fr}}</ref>

A study of the [[conceptual framework]] used by Ohm in producing Ohm's law has been presented by Thomas Archibald.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Archibald |first1=Thomas |title=Tension and potential from Ohm to Kirchhoff |journal=Centaurus |date=1988 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=141–163 |doi=10.1111/j.1600-0498.1988.tb00684.x|bibcode=1988Cent...31..141A }}</ref> The work of Ohm marked the early beginning of the subject of [[circuit theory]], although this did not become an important field until the end of the century.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Belevitch |first1=V. |author-link=Vitold Belevitch |title=Summary of the history of circuit theory |journal=Proceedings of the IRE |date=May 1962 |volume=50 |issue=5 |pages=848–855 |doi=10.1109/JRPROC.1962.288301 |doi-access=}}</ref>