Léon Charles Thévenin (; 30 March 1857,

Meaux Meaux () is a Communes of France, commune on the river Marne (river), Marne in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, Franc ...

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...

– 21 September 1926,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was a French

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

engineer who extended

Ohm's law Ohm's law states that the electric current through a Electrical conductor, conductor between two Node (circuits), points is directly Proportionality (mathematics), proportional to the voltage across the two points. Introducing the constant of ...

to the analysis of complex

electrical circuits An electrical network is an interconnection of electrical components (e.g., batteries, resistors, inductors, capacitors, switches, transistors) or a model of such an interconnection, consisting of electrical elements (e.g., voltage so ...

Biography

Born in

, France, Thévenin entered the

École polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

in 1876. Upon graduation, in 1878, he joined the Corps of telegraph Engineers (which subsequently became the French PTT). There, he initially worked on the development of long distance underground telegraph lines. Appointed as a teaching inspector at the École supérieure de télégraphie in 1882, he became increasingly interested in the problems of measurement in electrical circuits. As a result of studying

Kirchhoff's circuit laws Kirchhoff's circuit laws are two equalities that deal with the current and potential difference (commonly known as voltage) in the lumped element model of electrical circuits. They were first described in 1845 by German physicist Gustav Kirc ...

and

, he developed his famous theorem,

Thévenin's theorem As originally stated in terms of direct-current resistance (electricity), resistive circuits only, Thévenin's theorem states that ''"Any linear circuit, linear electrical network containing only voltage source, voltage sources, current source, c ...

, which made it possible to calculate currents in more complex electrical circuits and allowing people to reduce complex circuits into simpler circuits called Thévenin's equivalent circuits. Also, after becoming head of the

Bureau des Lignes Bureau ( ) may refer to: Agencies and organizations *Government agency *Public administration * News bureau, an office for gathering or distributing news, generally for a given geographical location * Bureau (European Parliament), the administrat ...

, he found time for teaching other subjects outside the École Supérieure, including a course in mechanics at the Institut National Agronomique, Paris. In 1896, he was appointed Director of the Telegraph Engineering School, and then in 1901, Engineer in chief of the telegraph workshops. He was a talented violinist. Another favorite pastime of his was

angling Angling (from Old English ''angol'', meaning "hook") is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated with a fishing rod, although rodless te ...

. He remained single but shared his home with a widowed cousin of his mother and her two children whom he later adopted. Thévenin consulted several scholars well known at that time, and controversy arose as to whether his law was consistent with the facts or not. He died in Paris. Shortly before his death he was visited by a friend, J. B. Pomey, and was surprised to hear that his theorem had been accepted all over the world. In 1926, he was taken to Paris for treatment. He left a formal request that no one should accompany him to the cemetery except his family and that nothing be placed on his coffin but a rose from his garden. This is how he was buried at Meaux. Thévenin is remembered as a model engineer and employee, hard-working, of scrupulous morality, strict in his principles but kind at heart.Vince Reynolds (October 22, 2009) http://matidavid.com/pioneer_files/Thevenin.doc (accuracy is unconfirme

/ref>

Footnotes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thevenin, Leon Charles French telecommunications engineers French electrical engineers École Polytechnique alumni Télécom Paris alumni Corps des télécommunications 1857 births 1926 deaths People from Meaux

Biography

See also

Footnotes

External links