Electr. [After the French physicist, C. A. de Coulomb (1736–1806), who first invented the method of measuring the quantity of electricity.] The designation adopted by the Paris Electric Congress in 1881, for the unit of electrical quantity; the quantity of electricity conveyed in one second by a current of one ampère. (For this unit the name Weber had been previously introduced into partial use.)
1881. Nature, XXIV. 512. The name Coulomb to be given to the quantity of electricity defined by the condition that an ampère gives one coulomb per second.
1891. Gloss. Electr. Terms (Lightning Suppl. 3 March 1892), The Coulomb is the quantity of electricity, which, when passed through a solution of nitrate of silver, deposits .001118 of a gramme of silver on the plate by which it leaves the liquid.
