Léon Charles Thévenin

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Léon Charles Thévenin (March 30, 1857- September 21, 1926) was a French telegraph engineer who extended Ohm's law to the analysis of complex electrical circuits.

[edit] Background

Born in Meaux, Thevenin graduated from the École 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 École Superieure in 1882, he became increasingly interested in the problems of measurement in electrical circuits. As a result of studying Kirchhoff's circuit laws and Ohm's law, he developed his famous theorem, Thévenin's theorem, which made it possible to calculate currents in more complex electrical circuits and allowing people to reduce complex circuits into simpler circuits called as Thevenin's equivalent circuit.

Also, after becoming head of the Bureau des Lignes, he found time for teaching other subjects outside the École 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.