Magnetism

History of magnetism

Early Discoveries

In the early discoveries people of ancient greece and china discovered a lodestone (the natural form of a magnet). Through experiments they found out that a lodestone would always point in a north-south direction if it was allowed to rotate freely. They applied this charistic of the lodestones to navigation, fortune telling, and a guide for building.

North and south poles

In 1263 Pierre de maricourt a french solidure mapped the magnetic field of a lodestone with a compass. He discovered that a magnet had two magnetic poles North and South poles.

In the 1600's Willam Gilbert concluded that the earth itself is a giant magnet with north and south poles.

Magnets and Electricity

In 1820 a danish physicist and chemist Hans Christian discovered that when an electric current flows through a wire it causes the compass needle to rotate. This proved that magnetism and electricity were related.

Also in 1820 Andre Marie a french physicist worked out the mathematical relationship between the current of electricity and the strength of th magnetic field. He also had a theory that the electric current in atoms had a magnetic field.

In 1830 Micheal Faraday an english scientist and Joseph henery an american ohysicist discovered that a changing magnetic