Thevenin

Leon Charles Thevenin (March 30, 1857- September 21, 1926) was born in Meaux, France. He was a French telegraph engineer who extended Ohm's law to the analysis of complex electrical circuits.

Thevenin graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris in 1876. In 1878, he joined the corps of telegraph Engineers (which subsequently became the French PTT). There, he initially worked on the development of long distance underground telegraph lines.

Appointed as a teaching inspector at the Ecole Superieure in 1882, he became increasingly interested in the problems of measurement in electrical circuits. As a result of studying Kirchhoff's circuit laws, which were essentially derived from Ohm's laws, he developed his famous theorem, Thevenin's theorem, which made it possible to calculate currents in more complex electrical circuits.

Also, after becoming head of the Bureau des Lignes, he found time for teaching other subjects outside the Ecole Superieure, including a course in mechanics at the Institut National Agronomique, Paris. In 1896, he was appointed Director of the Telegraph Engineering School, and then in 1901, Engineer in chief of the telegraph workshops.