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Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
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<p>Charles-Augustin de Coulomb was a French <a href="/facts/Officer_(armed_forces)/FDFw2Bpd">officer</a>, <a href="/facts/Engineer/ph4TnHnG">engineer</a>, and <a href="/facts/Physicist/cQcgvSIm">physicist</a>. He is best known as the <a href="/facts/Eponym/2q9tXlTQ">eponymous</a> discoverer of what is now called <a href="/facts/Coulomb%27s_law/V0lR5NKv">Coulomb's law</a>, the description of the <a href="/facts/Electrostatics/bxkuW6s4">electrostatic force</a> of attraction and repulsion. He also did important work on <a href="/facts/Friction/d0108Rpu">friction</a>, and his work on <a href="/facts/Lateral_earth_pressure/uRkY6IwC">earth pressure</a> formed the basis for the later development of much of the science of <a href="/facts/Soil_mechanics/WfVDFMAW">soil mechanics</a>. </p><p>The <a href="/facts/SI_unit/S7YLglNz">SI unit</a> of <a href="/facts/Electric_charge/xxsBfmlB">electric charge</a>, the <a href="/facts/Coulomb/WNV9ueGr">coulomb</a>, was named in his honor in 1880. </p>