Coulomb, CHARLES AUGUSTIN DE

Coulomb, CHARLES AUGUSTIN DE, famous for his experiments on friction, and the invention of the Torston Balance for measuring the force of magnetic and electrical attraction, was born at Angoulême in 1736. In early life he entered the engineers, and served some time at Martinique. In 1777 he gained an Academy prize by a work on magnetic needles, and again two years later by his Théorie des Machines simples. For speaking the truth about a projected canal in Brittany, he was for some time imprisoned, but earned the hearty approval of the honest Bretons, as well as his own conscience. Coulomb lived in retirement during the Revolution, became a member of the Institute in 1804, and died August 23, 1806.