production of an electromotive force (emf) and consequently an electric current in a loop of material consisting of at least two dissimilar conductors when two junctions are maintained at different temperatures. The conductors are commonly metals, though they need not even be solids. The German physicist Thomas Johann Seebeck (Seebeck, Thomas Johann) discovered (1821) the effect. The Seebeck effect is used to measure temperature with great sensitivity and accuracy (see thermocouple) and to generate electric power for special applications.