Hans Christian Ørsted (August 14, 1777 in Rudkøbing – March 9, 1851 in Copenhagen) was a Danishphysicist and chemist, influenced by the thinking of Immanuel Kant. In 1820 he discovered the relationship between electricity and magnetism in a very simple experiment. He demonstrated that a wire carrying a current was able to deflect a magnetized compass needle. Ørsted did not suggest any satisfactory explanation of the phenomenon, nor did he try to represent the phenomenon in a mathematical framework.
Ørsted was not the first person to discover that electricity and magnetism are related. He was preceded in this discovery by 18 years by Gian Domenico Romagnosi, an Italian legal scholar. An account of Romagnosi's discovery was published in 1802 in an Italian newspaper, but it was overlooked by the scientific community.
In 1825 he made a significant contribution to chemistry by producing aluminium for the first time.
HansOersted was born on Aug. 14, 1777, in Rudköbing on the island of Langeland.
Oersted, in contrast, believed that the same electric current that could produce light or heat or chemical effects depending on the size and surroundings of the wire that carried it must also be the source of magnetic effects, though not in the direction in the current.
Oersted's discovery of the relation between magnetism and electricity in 1820 is often described as the result of a lucky accident occurring during the course of a laboratory demonstration.
HansChristianOersted was born in the south central part of Denmark in 1777.
Oersted's dissertation was heavily influenced by the thought of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant; in fact, in 1798 he served on an editorial staff of a journal largely given over to Kant.
Shortly after Oersted's announcement the principle of electromagnetic induction was formulated by Michael Faraday in England, and this led to the development of the generator and ultimately the electric motor.
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