Peter Barlow (13.10.1776-1.03.1862) was an English physicist and mathematician and a Fellow of the Royal Society (from 1823). He was born in Norwich. He was self-educated. From 1801 he taught at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich.
His work in physics was in the field of magnetism, electromagnetism and optics. He studied terrestrial magnetism, examined the effect of iron on the readings of a ship's compass and proposed a method of correcting it. He carried out pioneering studies of the strength of metals, wood, stone and cement. He worked on the creation of achromatic objective lenses and built a lens of flint and crown glass (the Barlow lens). He constructed (1820) an early model of an electric motor (Barlow's wheel). He confirmed experimentally that the current is the same throughout a circuit. He drew up the so-called mathematical Barlow tables.
A member of the Paris (1828) and St Petersburg (1826) Academies of Sciences. The Copley Medal (1825).