Ampère House in Poleymieux

Polymieux is a small borough of the larger city of Lyon with roughly 1200 inhabitants. It is situated 20 kilometers north of Lyon in France. André-Marie Ampère was born in Lyon in 1775. He lived all his childhood and early adult years He was a self-made man and built his exceptional abilities in mathematics, chemistry and physics from reading the encyclopedia of Diderot and d'Alembert. He became one of the most prolific scientists of the modern era. He mainly left his most remarkable scientific and technical marks through his discoveries in electricity, electrodynamics and electromagnetism. Ampère is a worldwide known and used name often shortened to Amps. Ampère's house in Polymieux is situated on a piece of land of roughly two acres. It is a nice house built in the local chalkstone. André-Marie Ampère sold his house at age 35 to buy a home in rue des Fossés Saint-Victor in Paris where he established his laboratory. In 1928, Hernant and Susten Benn, founders of ITT, bought the domain and donated it to the Société Française des Electriciens, now SWE. This society entrusted the caretaking of the house and of the memory of André-Marie Ampère to the Société des Amis d'André-Marie Ampère, created for this purpose. The house has thus become a museum. We find ourselves here in the reception room which displays two pictures of the Benn brothers as well as some pieces of furniture and illustrations of the most important discoveries of Ampère. A number of the museum rooms are devoted to experiences displaying the equivalence between the electric and magnetic fields and forces due to the coupling of these fields. The direction of the force is given by the well-known rule of Ampère. The concept of electromagnets is thus easily grasped as well as the first invention of an electric telegraph due to Ampère which is not widely known. Finally, the Barlow wheel and the subsequent invention of electric motors or brakes are direct consequences of Ampère's work. One room displays some of Ampère's manuscripts, poems and texts. It is also devoted to Ampère's father who was guillotined in 1793 as well as to his son who was a specialist of Nordic literature. It also holds an original edition of the Diderot encyclopedia. The other rooms are a wide display of the history of electricity since ancient Greece to the multiple applications of the 20th century. They encompass electromechanical contraptions as well as the applications of electricity and electromagnetism to radio communications, telecommunications, lighting and electronics. The museum is planning to develop around green production and usages of electricity, photovoltaic or electric vehicles. The Ampère museum hosts a few thousand high school students every year. It should be able to do more by a better relation with the Lyon ecosystem in electricity, transport, lighting and different museums of this industrially rich region. It can also open to the international scene through the partnerships of Lyon with many cities worldwide or through a better financial support from global enterprises that thrive thanks to electromagnetism or electrodynamics.