PELTIER, JEAN-CHARLES-ATHANASE

born Feb. 22, 1785, Ham, Fr. died Oct. 27, 1845, Paris French physicist who discovered (1834) that at the junction of two dissimilar metals an electric current will produce heat or cold, depending on the direction of current flow. The effect, known by his name, is used in devices for measuring temperature and, with the discovery of new conducting materials, in refrigeration units. A clockmaker, Peltier retired when he was 30 years old to devote his time to scientific investigations. In 1840 he introduced the concept of electrostatic induction, a method of charging a conductor by closely juxtaposing another charged object to attract all charges of one sign and then grounding the conductor to bleed off the other group of charges, leaving a net charge behind. He wrote numerous papers on atmospheric electricity, waterspouts, and the boiling point at high elevations.