Augustus Matthiessen

Biography

Augustus Matthiessen (1831–1870) was a brilliant experimental physicist whose careful measurements of the conductivity and optical behaviour of metals shared with the scientific world an unprecedented level of precision. His name lives on in Matthiessen's rule, which describes how impurities affect electrical resistance, and in a series of papers that continue to underpin electrochemistry.

Though he died at just thirty-eight, Matthiessen's relentless pursuit of accurate data inspired his contemporaries to raise the standard of laboratory work and trained a new generation of physicists. He is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery.