Georg Adolf Erman (12 May 1806 – 12 July 1877) was a German

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

. Erman was born in Berlin as the son of

Paul Erman Paul Erman (29 February 1764 – 11 October 1851) was a German physicist from Berlin, Brandenburg and a Huguenot of the fourth generation. He was the son of the historian Jean Pierre Erman (1735–1814), author of ''Histoire des réfugiés'' ...

. He studied natural science at the universities of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

, spent from 1828 to 1830 in a journey round the world, an account of which he published in ''Reise um die Erde durch Nordasien und die beiden Ozeane'' (1833-1848). The magnetic observations he made during his travels were utilized by

Carl Friedrich Gauss Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; german: Gauß ; la, Carolus Fridericus Gauss; 30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to many fields in mathematics and science. Sometimes refer ...

in his theory of terrestrial

magnetism Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particles ...

. He was appointed professor of physics at Berlin in 1839, and died there in 1877. From 1841 to 1865 he edited the ''Archiv für wissenschaftliche Kunde von Russland'', and in 1874 he published, with H. J. R. Petersen, ''Die Grundlagen der Gauss'schen Theorie und die Erscheinungen des Erdmagnetismus'' im Jahre 1829. Erman married, Marie Bessel, daughter of

Friedrich Bessel Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (; 22 July 1784 – 17 March 1846) was a German astronomer, mathematician, physicist, and geodesist. He was the first astronomer who determined reliable values for the distance from the sun to another star by the method ...

, and they were the parents of Johann Peter Adolf Erman.

References

* 1806 births 1877 deaths 19th-century German physicists Scientists from Berlin People from the Province of Brandenburg Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin University of Königsberg alumni Foreign Members of the Royal Society {{Germany-physicist-stub