“ In later life he was accustomed to say that he knew as much about mathematics when he was eighteen as ever he knew; but his reading embraced nearly the whole round of knowledge—history, travels, poetry, philosophy and the natural sciences. When Lyons was taken by the army of the Convention in 1793, the father of Ampère, who, holding the office of juge de paix, had stood out resolutely against the previous revolutionary excesses, was at once thrown into prison, and soon after perished on the scaffold. ”

“ The whole field thus opened up he explored with characteristic industry and care, and developed a mathematical theory which not only explained the electromagnetic phenomena already observed but also predicted many new ones. ”

“ In 1799 they were married. From about 1796 Ampère gave private lessons at Lyons in mathematics, chemistry and languages; and in 1801 he removed to Bourg, as professor of physics and chemistry, leaving his ailing wife and infant son at Lyons. She died in 1804, and he never recovered from the blow. In the same year he was appointed professor of mathematics at the lycée of Lyons. ”