This is a list of scientific units named after people. For other lists of eponyms (names derived from people) see eponym. By convention, the name of the unit is properly written starting with a lowercase letter (except where any word would be capitalized), but the first letter of its symbol is a capital letter if it is derived from a proper name.
SI units ampere (A), electric currentAndré-Marie Ampère becquerel (Bq), radioactivityHenri Becquerel degree Celsius (°C), temperatureAnders Celsius coulomb (C), electric chargeCharles-Augustin de Coulomb farad (F), capacitanceMichael Faraday gray (Gy), absorbed dose of radiation – Louis Harold Gray henry (H), inductanceJoseph Henry hertz (Hz), frequencyHeinrich Rudolf Hertz joule (J), energy, work, heatJames Prescott Joule kelvin (K), thermodynamic temperatureLord Kelvin newton (N), forceIsaac Newton ohm (Ω), electrical resistanceGeorg Ohm pascal (Pa), pressureBlaise Pascal siemens (S), electrical conductanceWerner von Siemens sievert (Sv), radiation dose equivalentRolf Sievert tesla (T), magnetic flux densityNikola Tesla volt (V), electric potential, electromotive forceAlessandro Volta watt (W), power, radiant fluxJames Watt weber (Wb), magnetic fluxWilhelm Eduard Weber
CGS units biot (Bi), electric currentJean-Baptiste Biot buckingham (B), electric quadrupole momentA. David Buckingham debye (D), electric dipole momentPeter Debye eotvos (E), gravitational gradientLoránd Eötvös galileo (Gal), accelerationGalileo Galilei gauss (G or Gs), magnetic flux densityCarl Friedrich Gauss gilbert (Gb), magnetomotive forceWilliam Gilbert goeppert-mayer (GM), two-photon absorption cross sectionMaria Goeppert Mayer kayser (kayser), wavenumberHeinrich Kayser maxwell (Mx), magnetic fluxJames Clerk Maxwell oersted (Oe), magnetic field strengthHans Christian Ørsted poise (P), dynamic viscosityJean Léonard Marie Poiseuille Rayl or Rayleigh (Rayl), acoustic impedanceJohn William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh rayleigh (R), photon fluxRobert Strutt, 4th Baron Rayleigh stokes (S or St), kinematic viscosityGeorge Gabriel Stokes
No longer in use franklin (Fr), electric chargeBenjamin Franklin clausius (Cl), entropyRudolf Clausius
Others angstrom (Å), distanceAnders Jonas Ångström baud (Bd), symbol rateÉmile Baudot Bark scale, psychoacoustical scaleHeinrich Barkhausen brewster (B), stress optic coefficientDavid Brewster centimorgan (cM), recombination frequencyThomas Hunt Morgan curie (Ci), radioactivityMarie and Pierre Curie dalton (Da), atomic massJohn Dalton darcy (D), permeability,Henry Darcy decibel (dB) dimensionless proportions and ratios, e.g. relative power levelsAlexander Graham Bell degree Fahrenheit (°F), temperatureDaniel Gabriel Fahrenheit degree Rankine (°R), temperatureWilliam John Macquorn Rankine Dobson unit (DU), atmospheric ozoneGordon Dobson erlang (E), dimensionless volume of telecommunications trafficAgner Krarup Erlang fermi (fm), distanceEnrico Fermi hartley (Hart), informationRalph Hartley hartree (Ha), energyDouglas Hartree Hounsfield scale, radiodensityGodfrey Newbold Hounsfield jansky (Jy), electromagnetic fluxKarl Jansky langley (ly), solar radiationSamuel Pierpont Langley langmuir (L), gas exposure doseIrving Langmuir neper (Np), relative power levelJohn Napier degree Öchsle (°Oe), densityFerdinand Öchsle Rockwell scale (HR), indentation hardnessStanley Rockwell röntgen (R), dosage of X-rays or gamma radiationWilhelm Röntgen Richter magnitude, earthquake powerCharles Francis Richter Scoville units, capsaicin content of chili peppersWilbur Scoville shannon (Sh), informationClaude Shannon siegbahn (xu), distanceManne Siegbahn svedberg (S or Sv), sedimentation rateTheodor Svedberg sverdrup (Sv), volume transport rateHarald Sverdrup torr (Torr), pressureEvangelista Torricelli troland (Td), luminance (human eye)Leonard Troland
Natural unit systems Planck unitsMax Planck Stoney unitsGeorge Stoney
No longer in use Mercalli intensity scale, earthquake effectsGiuseppe Mercalli degree Réaumur (°R), temperature René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur degree Delisle (°D), temperatureJoseph-Nicolas Delisle degree Newton (°N), temperatureIsaac Newton degree Rømer (°Rø), temperatureOle Rømer degree Baumé (°Bé), densityAntoine Baumé einstein (E), photochemistryAlbert Einstein poncelet (p), powerJean-Victor Poncelet faraday (Fd), electrical chargeMichael Faraday
See also List of eponyms Lists of etymologies List of obsolete units of measurement List of unusual units of measurement List of humorous units of measurement List of scientists whose names are used as SI units List of scientists whose names are used as non SI units
References