Johann Jakob Balmer (1.05.1825-12.03.1898) was a Swiss physicist and mathematician. He was born in Lausen. He studied in Basel, Karlsruhe and Berlin. In 1849 he received the degree of doctor at the University of Basel. From 1859 he taught at a secondary school and in 1865—90 at the University of Basel.
His work in physics was in the field of spectroscopy. He found a regularity in the spectral lines of the hydrogen atom, showing in 1885 that the wavelengths of the lines of the visible part of the spectrum of the hydrogen atom are connected with one another by a simple relation (the Balmer formula), which makes it possible to determine the wavelengths of all the lines of the hydrogen series (the Balmer series). This discovery was the impulse for the detection of other series in the spectrum of the hydrogen atom: the Lyman, Paschen, Brackett and Pfund series. He was a pioneer in the study of the structure of the atom.