Georg Simon Ohm was born on March 16 1789 an died on July 6 1854. He was a German physicist. As a high school teacher, Ohm started his research with the recently invented electrochemical cell, invented by Italian Count Alessandro Volta. Using equipment of his own creation, Ohm determined that there is a direct proportionality between the potential difference (voltage) applied across a conductor and the resultant electric current which flows through it -- which we now know as Ohm's law.