1777-1851

Danish Physicist

In 1820 Hans Oersted described the action of an electric current on a magnetized needle, demonstrating a connection between electric and magnetic forces unexpected by the majority of researchers in electricity and magnetism. His observation stimulated further work on electromagnetic phenomena by numerous investigators, including André Ampère (1775-1836) and Michael Faraday (1791-1867), leading to a grand synthesis in 1873 by English physicist James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879). Maxwell's equations explained the behavior of light as an electromagnetic wave, led to the discovery of radio waves, and posed questions concerning the velocity of light which would lead to Einstein's theory of relativity.

Oersted received a broad education in scientific subjects at the University of Copenhagen, receiving a degree in pharmacy in 1797. Two years later he received his doctorate for a thesis that argued for the importance of the philosophy of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) for...