Andrew D. Jackson

Selected scientific works of Hans Christian Ørsted

Most of the research of Hans Christian Orsted (1777-1851), a leading 19th century scientist who contributed to the founding of electromagneticism, has been published in languages other than English. This book publishes his most important works in English and includes his accounts of experiments in electromagnetism. In 1820, he discovered that a compass needle deflects from magnetic north when an electric current is switched on or off in a nearby wire. This showed that electricity and magnetism were related phenomena, a finding that laid the foundation for the theory of electromagnetism and for research that later created such technologies as radio, television, and fiber optics. The unit of magnetic field strength was named the Orsted in his honour. The writings are taken from scientific papers, Orsted correspondence, and reports of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.