Johann Christian Poggendorff (29.12.1796—24.01.1877) — a German physicist and publisher, a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences (1839). He was born in Hamburg. In 1812—20 he was an apothecary (Hamburg, Itzehoe). In 1820—24 he studied at the University of Berlin, and from 1834 he was professor at that university.
His work was in the fields of electromagnetism and the history of physics. In 1821 he invented the galvanometer, in 1826 he proposed the method of mirror reading in electrical measuring instruments, in 1842 he constructed the rheostat, and in 1843 an instrument for measuring electric polarisation. He worked on the improvement of galvanic cells.
He was the founder and editor of the journal “Annalen der Physik und Chemie” (1824), and from 1863 also published a reference work containing biographical information and a bibliography of a large number of scientists.
A foreign member of the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1868).