Hans Christian Ørsted was born on 14 August 1777 in Rudkøbing. A Danish physicist and chemist, Orsted discovered in 1820 that an electric current produces a magnetic field, when he noticed that a compass needle was deflected by a nearby wire carrying a current. The finding was the first evidence of a link between electricity and magnetism, and launched the study of electromagnetism by Ampere, Faraday and others. He also isolated aluminum in an impure form in 1825, and wrote on philosophy and aesthetics. A professor at the University of Copenhagen, he founded the Polytechnic Institute, now the Technical University of Denmark. The unit of magnetic field strength in the CGS system, the oersted, is named after him.
Before and after
- 27 August 1776Battle of Long Island
- 1777Discovery of sulfur
- 30 April 1777Birth of Carl Friedrich Gauss
- from 14 June 1777 to 17 October 1777Saratoga campaign
- 14 August 1777Birth of Hans Christian Ørsted
- 11 September 1777Battle of Brandywine
- from 19 September 1777 to 17 December 1777Battles of Saratoga
- 12 December 1777Birth of Alexander I of Russia
- 1778Discovery of molybdenum
More in Science & technology
- 1774Discovery of chlorine
- 1789Discovery of uranium
- 30 June 1808Discovery of boron
- 1810Discovery of fluorine
- 1823Discovery of silicon
- 1884Car
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 18th century.