Arthur Auguste de la Rive (9.10.1801-27.11.1873) was a Swiss physicist. He was born in Geneva. He studied at the Academy in Geneva, where in 1823 he became professor of general physics and in 1825 professor of experimental physics and head of the department (in 1823 — 36 he was also secretary of the Academy, and in 1837—40 and 1843 — 44 its rector).
His research was in electricity, electromagnetism and electrochemistry. In 1820 he repeated the experiments of V. V. Petrov and H. Davy, obtaining the electric arc, and the experiment of H. Ørsted demonstrating the existence of a magnetic field around a conductor carrying a current. He developed a theory of the chemical cell. In 1836 he confirmed the observation of J. Daniell, who had noticed that the layer of copper deposited in his cell on the electrode can be removed whole, the cast reproducing every feature of the relief of the electrode surface. He discovered (1837) the electrolytic action of an alternating current.
A member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1864). In 1845 and 1865 he was president of the Geneva Society of Physics and Natural History.