Paul Erman (29 February 1764 – 11 October 1851) was a German physicist from

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 ...

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

and a Huguenot of the fourth generation. He was the son of the historian Jean Pierre Erman (1735–1814), author of ''Histoire des réfugiés''. Erman became teacher of science successively at the French gymnasium (

Französisches Gymnasium Berlin The Französisches Gymnasium (french: Lycée français de Berlin) is a long-existing francophone gymnasium in Berlin, Germany. Traditionally, it is widely regarded as an elite high school. It is also the oldest public school in Berlin. Its creati ...

) in

, and at the

military academy A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...

, and on the foundation of the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

in 18 months he was chosen professor of physics. His work was mainly concerned with electricity and magnetism, though he also made some contributions to optics and physiology. Erman died in Berlin. He had a son,

Georg Adolf Erman Georg Adolf Erman (12 May 1806 – 12 July 1877) was a German physicist. Erman was born in Berlin as the son of Paul Erman. He studied natural science at the universities of Berlin and Königsberg, spent from 1828 to 1830 in a journey round ...

who was a physicist, and a grandson Johann Peter Adolf Erman, known as an Egyptologist.

References

* 1764 births 1851 deaths 19th-century German physicists Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences Scientists from Berlin People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Foreign Members of the Royal Society 18th-century German physicists {{Germany-physicist-stub