Seebeck, Thomas Johann

Born Apr. 9, 1770, in Revel, now Tallinn; died Dec. 10, 1831, in Berlin. German physicist. Member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences (1818).

Seebeck studied medicine in Berlin and Göttingen. In 1821 he discovered a thermoelectric effect (the Seebeck effect). With J. Peltier he carried out a series of experiments showing the conversion of heat energy into electrical energy and vice versa. Seebeck also did work in physical optics, physical chemistry, and otherfields.