Van Swinden demonstrating the generation of electricity to the Felix Meritis Society, Amsterdam. Jean Henri van Swinden (June 8, 1746 - March 9, 1823) was a Dutch mathematician and physicist. In 1776 he won a prize from the Académie Royale des Sciences along with Charles-Augustin de Coulomb for his work on earth's magnetic field, and the relationship between magnetism and electricity. Engraving by R. Vinkeles after J. Kuyper and P. Barbiers, 1800.