National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Timeline of Electricity and Magnetism: 1820 1829
Hans Christian Orsted's accidental discovery that an electrical current moves a compass needle rocks the scientific world; a spate of experiments follows, immediately leading to the first electromagnet and electric motor.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Timeline of Electricity and Magnetism: 1800 1819
Alessandro Volta invents the first primitive battery, discovering that electricity can be generated through chemical processes; scientists quickly seize on the new tool to invent electric lighting. Meanwhile, a profound insight into the...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Timeline of Electricity and Magnetism: 1775 1799
Scientists take important steps toward a fuller understanding of electricity, as well as some fruitful missteps, including an elaborate but incorrect theory on animal magnetism that sets the stage for a groundbreaking invention.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Timeline of Electricity and Magnetism: 1700 1749
Aided by tools such as static electricity machines and Leyden jars, scientists continue their experiments into the fundamentals of magnetism and electricity.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Timeline of Electricity and Magnetism: 1830 1839
The first telegraphs are constructed and Michael Faraday produces much of his brilliant and enduring research into electricity and magnetism, inventing the first primitive transformer and generator.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Timeline of Electricity and Magnetism: 1600 1699
The Scientific Revolution takes hold, facilitating the groundbreaking work of luminaries such as William Gilbert, who took the first truly scientific approach to the study of magnetism and electricity and wrote extensively of his findings.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Timeline of Electricity and Magnetism: 1880 1889
Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison duke it out over the best way to transmit electricity and Heinrich Hertz is the first person (unbeknownst to him) to broadcast and receive radio waves.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Timeline of Electricity and Magnetism: 1900 1909
Albert Einstein publishes his special theory of relativity and his theory on the quantum nature of light, which he identified as both a particle and a wave. With ever new appliances, electricity begins to transform everyday life.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Hans Christian Orsted
A discovery by Hans Christian Orsted forever changed the way scientists think about electricity and magnetism. While preparing to perform an experiment during a lecture at the University of Copenhagen, he found that the magnetized needle...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Timeline of Electricity and Magnetism: 600 Bc 1599
Find out how humans discovered the magnetic lodestone as well as the attracting properties of amber. Advanced societies, in particular the Chinese and the Europeans, exploited the properties of magnets in compasses, a tool that makes...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Electric Range 1892
From the Stone Age to today, the search is constantly underway for better, more efficient ways to cook food. Reflecting many of the advances in science and technology, the electric range has become a popular choice for homes and businesses.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Luigi Galvani
Luigi Galvani was a pioneer in the field of electrophysiology, the branch of science concerned with electrical phenomena in the body. His experiments with dissected frogs and electrical charges led him to suggest the existence of a...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Schweigger Multiplier 1820
Spurred by Hans Christian Orsted's discovery of a relationship between electricity and magnetism, German chemist Julian Schweigger immediately began tinkering and soon came up with a very early galvanometer known as the Schweigger...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Michael Faraday
A self-educated man with a brilliant mind, Michael Faraday was born in a hardscrabble neighborhood in London. Through the combination of insatiable curiosity and a powerful will to succeed, he transcended his austere beginnings to...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Torsion Balance 1785
Read about Charles Augustin de Coulomb, who didn't invent the torsion balance, but was the first to discover it could be used to measure electrical charge- the first device capable of such a feat.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Leyden Jars 1745
Because they could store significant amounts of charge, Leyden jars allowed scientists to experiment with electricity in a way never before possible.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Tesla Coil 1891
By the late 1800s, electricity had long been discovered and was no longer considered a novelty. The science of how to store, enhance, or transmit electrical current was just beginning to evolve, and eccentric scientist Nikola Tesla...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: William Crookes
English scientist William Crookes was very innovative in his investigations with vacuum tubes and designed a variety of different types to be used in his experimental work. Crookes tubes are glass vacuum chambers that contain a positive...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: James Joule
James Prescott Joule experimented with engines, electricity and heat throughout his life. Joule's findings resulted in his development of the mechanical theory of heat and Joule's law, which quantitatively describes the rate at which...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Joseph John Thomson
Joseph John Thomson, better known as J. J. Thomson, was a British physicist who first theorized and offered experimental evidence that the atom was a divisible entity rather than the basic unit of matter, as was widely believed at the...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Lodestone 600 Bc
The history of electricity and magnetism starts with this special mineral possessing amazing, and still mysterious, properties.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Peter Debye
Peter Debye carried out pioneering studies of molecular dipole moments, formulated theories of magnetic cooling and of electrolytic dissociation, and developed an X-ray diffraction technique for use with powdered, rather than...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Andre Marie Ampere
Although he was not the first person to observe a connection between electricity and magnetism, Andre-Marie Ampere was the first scientist to attempt to theoretically explain and mathematically describe the phenomenon. His contributions...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Heinrich Friedrich Emil Lenz
At the turn of the 19th century, scientists were beginning to gain a rudimentary understanding of electricity and magnetism, but they knew almost nothing about the relationship between the two. Baltic German physicist Heinrich Lenz took...