Georg Simon Ohm came from a Protestant family. His father, Johann Wolfgang Ohm, was a locksmith while his mother, Maria Elizabeth Beck, was the daughter of a tailor. Although his parents had not been formally educated. Ohm's father educated himself to a high level and was able to give his sons an excellent education through his own teachings.
IN this age several of the children died in their childhood. Of the seven children born only three survived. His father who brought him to a high standard in mathematics, physics, chemistry and philosophy.
When he entered the University of Erlangen rather than concentrate on his studies he spent much time dancing, ice skating and playing billiards.
Ohm's father, angry that his son was wasting the educational opportunity that he himself had never been fortunate enough to experience, demanded that Ohm leave the university after three semesters.
Ohm was sent to Switzerland where he took up a post as a mathematics teacher.
Ohm to read the works of Euler, Laplace and Lacroix. His private studies had stood him in good stead for he received a doctorate from Erlangen and immediately joined the staff as a mathematics lecturer. After three semesters Ohm gave up his university post lived in poverty The Bavarian government offered him a post as a teacher of mathematics and physics at a poor quality school. But this was not the successful career envisaged by Ohm and he decided that he would have to show that he was worth much more than a teacher in a poor school.
He worked on writing an elementary book on the teaching of geometry so he received an offer of the post of teacher better school Ohm continued his private studies reading the texts of the leading French mathematicians Lagrange, Legendre, Laplace, Biot and Poisson, Fourier and Fresnel.
He began his own experimental work in the school physics laboratory after he had learnt of Oersted's discovery of electromagnetism.
At first his experiments were conducted for his own educational benefit as were the private studies he made of the works of the leading mathematicians.
In fact he had already convinced himself of the truth of what we call today "Ohm's law" namely the relationship that the current through most materials is directly proportional to the potential difference applied across the material.
In 1849 Ohm took up a post in Munich as curator of the Bavarian Academy's physical cabinet and began to lecture at the University of Munich. Only in 1852, two years before his death, did Ohm achieve his lifelong ambition of being appointed to the chair of physics at the University of Munich.