From 1844 to 1854, Jamin studied and confirmed the conclusions of Macedonio Melloni concerning energy absorption alongside fellow physicists L. Courtépée and Antoine-Philibert Masson.

[2] In 1852 he was appointed professor of physics at the École Polytechnique, a position he held until March 1881, when Alfred Potier succeeded him.

In 1858 he was awarded the Rumford Medal, from the Royal Society,[3] for his work on light and in 1863 he became a professor at the Faculty of Paris, succeeding César Despretz as the associate chair of experimental physics.

Based on his lectures at the École polytechnique, he published a compelling paper titled "General essay on Physics".

[4] In 1868, he joined the French Academy of Sciences and in the same year he created and headed the Physical Research Laboratory funded by the École pratique des hautes études of which he was also the principal of the studies division.

Like many French scientists of the period, Jamin was known to perform scientific demonstrations in public with the goal of drawing enthusiastic crowds and gaining support for his work.

[7] Jamin was a staunch advocate of the movement in 19th century French towards precision measurement being essential for meaningful scientific experimentation.

This was also observed with Paul Laugier, Félix Mauvais, Jean Goujon, Hervé Faye, and Charles Mathieu.

One article that Jamin had published was titled "La Physique Depuis Les Recherches D'Herschel: I. Melloni et ses Travaux sur la Chaleur Rayonnante", which translates to "Physics Since Herschel's Research: Melloni and His Work on Radiant Heat."

He married at Reims in 1851, Theresa Josephine Eudoxia Lebrun (1832-1880), with whom he had a daughter, Lucie who was the wife of the physicist Henri Becquerel, and a son, a painter, Paul Jamin.