Happy birthday Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (March 12, 1824 – October 17, 1887) . Back in 1845 while still a student he created Kirchhoff’s circuit laws which solidified the mathematics for basic electronic circuit design. The contributions Kirchhoff made to physics where instrumental in advancing science in the 19th century.
In 2003 the IEEE honored him by creating the Gustav Robert Kirchhoff Award for “outstanding contributions to the fundamentals of any aspect of electronic circuits and systems that has a long-term significance or impact.”
Biographies:
University of St Andrews, Scotland
Wikipedia
There is one of his books available @ Google books: Researches on the solar spectrum, and the spectra of the chemical elements
Paul Hutchinson's Blog 