Hans Christian Oersted
- the man who discovered electromagnetism
no experimental proofs opinions he entertained were know, but constance in pursuit his subject, both reason and experiment was well rewarded by discovery fact of which not a single person besides himself had the slightest suspicion. align="justify>Of him, Faraday said: ">
In these early days of electricity, the facts that we take
for granted were not known and it took great men like Hans Christian Oersted to
discover them.
Early career
Born in 1777, Hans Christian Oersted was the son of a Danish Apothecary, and in
his early childhood he and his brother were looked after by neighbours whilst
his parents worked in their business. These neighbours provided him with an
education.
Oersted then served an apprenticeship in his father's
apothecary and then both he and his brother studied at Copenhagen University.
Hans Christian studied Chemistry and his bother studied law. In fact his brother
rose through the judiciary and eventually became prime minister.
Oersted gained a Ph.D. and continued to study philosophy.
However to earn a living he worked at an apothecary whilst acting as a part time
unpaid lecturer at the university. This lead to an award of a three year travel
scholarship that took him around Europe and it enabled him to follow up on his
scientific interests.
On returning to Copenhagen, Hans Christian Oersted could not
gain the professorial position he wanted as a result of some ill-thought-out
statements he had made which were criticised by leading scientists. Fortunately
some popular lectures Oersted gave on various scientific topics helped restore
his reputation and he secured a post as an "extraordinary professor".
Initial theories
As a result of his studies in philosophy, Oersted had thought that there were
links between the different forces in nature. Already the new science associated
with electricity had demonstrated there was a link between electricity and
chemistry as a result of Volta's work on cells. If this was try then why not
between electricity and magnetism? In 1812-1813, Oersted expressed these ideas
in a book, despite the fact that it did not fit in with the thinking of the
time.
Discovery made
In the winter of 1819-1820, Hans Christian Oersted gave a number of lectures on
electricity and magnetism to a small group of advanced students. One that he
wanted to try was the effect of a closed electrical circuit (i.e. with a current
flowing) on a magnetised needle. Unfortunately he did not have time to try it
before the lecture, and decided to postpone it. However during the lecture he
changed his mind and tried it. Despite the fact that the wire was thin and the
resistance high, a sufficient current flowed to deflect the needle - his
theories had been proved.
Further experiments were needed because the effect was not
particularly dramatics, but they had to be postponed for three months until a
more powerful battery and thicker wire were available.
Once these were available Oersted performed the experiment
again, and also looked more into its nature checking that it was not an
electrostatic effect.
Oersted published his findings and circulated them to many
leading scientists in Europe. The paper created an enormous response as people
realised the significance of the discovery.
Later Life
Oersted continued a variety of scientific researches. Much of his later work
involved studies of the compressibility of gases, and beyond this he turned back
to his first love - philosophy before his death in 1851.
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