Scientific units named after people - Definition and Overview

This is a list of scientific units named after people. For other lists of eponyms (names derived from people) see eponym.

SI base units

• Ampere, electric current – André-Marie Ampère
• Kelvin, thermodynamic temperature – Lord Kelvin

SI derived unit

• Becquerel, radioactivity – Henri Becquerel
• Degree Celsius, temperature – Anders Celsius
• Coulomb, electric charge – Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
• Farad, capacitance – Michael Faraday
• Gray, absorbed dose of radiation - Louis Harold Gray
• Henry, inductance – Joseph Henry
• Hertz, frequency – Heinrich Rudolf Hertz
• Joule, energy, work, heat – James Prescott Joule
• Newton, force – Isaac Newton
• Ohm, electrical resistance – Georg Ohm
• Pascal, pressure – Blaise Pascal
• Siemens, electrical conductance – Werner von Siemens
• Sievert, radiation dose equivalent – Rolf Sievert
• Tesla, magnetic flux density – Nikola Tesla
• Volt, electric potential, electromotive force – Alessandro Volta
• Watt, power, radiant flux – James Watt
• Weber, magnetic flux – Wilhelm Eduard Weber

Centimeter-gram-second system of units

• Biot, electric current; Jean-Baptiste Biot
• Debye, electric dipole moment; Peter Debye
• Gauss, magnetic induction – Carl Friedrich Gauss
• Maxwell, magnetic flux – James Clerk Maxwell
• Oersted, magnetic field strength – Hans Christian Orsted
• Galileo, acceleration; Galileo Galilei
• Eotvos, gravitational gradient; Roland Eötvös

No longer in use

• Franklin, electric charge – Benjamin Franklin

Others

• Angstrom, distance – Anders Jonas Ångström
• Bel, relative power level – Alexander Graham Bell
• Curie, radioactivity – Marie and Pierre Curie
• Degree Fahrenheit, temperature – Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
• Jansky, flux density – Karl Jansky
• Neper, relative power level – John Napier
• Poise, viscosity – Jean Louis Marie Poiseuille
• Röntgen, dosage of X-rays or gamma radiation – Wilhelm Röntgen
• Stokes, viscosity – George Gabriel Stokes
• Svedberg, sedimentation rate – Theodor Svedberg

No longer in use

• Degree Rankine, temperature – William John Macquorn Rankine
• Réaumur, temperature – René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur
• Torr, pressure – Evangelista Torricelli

See also

• List of eponyms