Charles Augustin de Coulomb :: biographies bio

Charles Augustin Coulomb was born on June 14th, 1736 in Angoulme, France. Henry Coulomb, Charles father, had a force career, but left that for the government. His mother, Catherine Bajet, was link to a very wealthy family, the de Snacs. Many say that Henry Coulomb got caught up in some financial mishaps which led to him losing most in all of his money. During Coulombs younger years his family moved from Angoulme on to Paris. Here, Charles attended many lectures at the College Mazarin and also the College de France. His mom wanted him to be a medical doctor, but on the contrary, Charles wanted to go on and study mathematics. Since Charles disobeyed his mother, he was disowned and was forced to stay with his father over in Montpellier. During his stay he joined the second regal scientific society in France known as the scientific circle. Here he read many papers on mathematics and astronomy. It was a take down that he had no money to purchase a home of his own and continue his sci entific studies, but eventually he came to be a military engineer. He joined the military school at Mzires in 1760. Here he formed many friendships which would later be authoritative for his scientific work. Charles Bossut, his teacher at Mzires and Jean Charles Borda where among them.After spending nearly nine years in Martinique as an engineer of the military Charles returned to France mostly due to ill health. In 1781 he entered the French Academy of Sciences where he was a part of the administration of waters and fountains, the reform of hospitals and the system of weights and measures. He was able to publish his paper in 1787 where he proved his famous Coulombs Law. Soon came the outbreak of the French Revolution and Charles decided to retire to a scurvy cottage in Blois. Here he was able to devote his time to