Note 23 — Chapter IX · Ohm, the Founder of Mathematical Electricity.

Ohm's brother, Martin Ohm, deserves a passing word, because his life is characteristically different in certain ways and because, above all, it represents academic success, while Ohm's was almost an academic failure. He finally received the professorship in mathematics at Berlin, and came to be considered as one of the greatest professors of the subject in Europe. Their careers form typical examples of the fact, often notable in history, that talent finds a ready welcome in the academic world, while genius is often neglected, and indeed may be, and often is, the target for bitter opposition. The younger Ohm's writings are mainly with regard to mathematics, but nearly always from some general rather than special standpoint, and very often with regard to the educational side of the subject. His first book was on Analytic and Higher Geometry in their Elements. He then wrote class text-books of mathematics and mechanics. One of his works, The Spirit of Mathematical Analysis and its Relation to a Logical System, because of its value as an educational document attracted widespread attention. This book, translated by Ellis into English, was published in London in 1845. One of Martin Ohm's earlier books should be of special interest to educators because of its subject. Its rather lengthy title is, "An Attempt to Formulate a Short, Fundamental, Clear Method to Enable Those without a Taste for Mathematics to Learn the Mathematics Necessary for the Higher and Technical Schools."