Magnet Academy: William Gilbert

William Gilbert was an English physician and natural philosopher who wrote a six-volume treatise that compiled all of the information regarding magnetism and electricity known at the time. The work included descriptions of many of Gilbert's own experiments and the conclusions he drew from them, as well as data that had been previously obtained by others. In this opus, Gilbert established much of the basic terminology still employed in the field of electromagnetics, including electricity, electric attraction and force and magnetic pole.