Explore "Principles of Electricity" by Maynard Shipley on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The Danish physicist, Hans Christian Örsted, professor of natural philosophy at the University of Copenhagen, showed us, more than a century ago, that a magnetic needle can be deflected by an electric current. He had been led by theoretical considerations to assume that there must be a correlation between electric and magnetic forces. While yet a young man, Örsted endeavored by persevering experimentation to prove the correctness of his theory. While he did not expect a parallel action of the two forces, he was firmly convinced that magnetism and electricity were inseparable twins.
He noted that both heat and light radiated from a conductor when heated to incandescence. He also assumed that magnetic forces are radiated from a conductor traversed by electricity.