ever since natural philosopher William Gilbert first observed parallels between electrical and magnetic attraction in the year 1600 natural philosophers everywhere had been trying to find a means to link the two forces Gilbert in 1600 noticed that the static electric attraction of Amber had similar characteristics to the magnetic attraction of load Stone but came to the conclusion that two different forces were at play here and electrical force and a magnetic force investigations into these phenomena would continue for the next two Centuries with some scientists believing the two forces were not connected and others believing they were
this speculation would end in 1820 when an accidental discovery made by Danish physicist and chemist Hans Christian erad would lead to the eventual theory that electrical attraction and magnetic attraction were to two parts of the same electromagnetic force Hans Christian Ed developed an interest in science at an early age while working for his father at the local pharmacy in southern Denmark most of the education Hans received was at home alongside his brother Anders and the two of them took entrance exams to the University of Copenhagen and excelled by 1799 When Hans was 22 years old
he had received his Doctorate from the University and had already been awarded honors for two of his Papers written during his time there one in Aesthetics and one in physics upon graduation urad worked as a lecturer and pharmacist for a short time before taking the first of many foreign trips his first one being to Germany on this trip Hans became acquainted with Johan vilhelm Ritter a chemist and physicist who adamantly believed that electricity and magnetism were interconnected at some fundamental level stad became heavily influenced by R's views as the two of them shared a passion
for philosophy and connected on more levels than one after returning from his trip to Germany Hans began making unofficial lectures at the University of Copenhagen he was not a paid lecturer at the time rather he took payments from interested audience members Hans was a gifted lecturer and his tactics paid off as his lectures quickly gained a significant amount of attention enough for the University to eventually give him an official position as lecturer of physical sciences in 1806 urad would maintain this position for decades and Copenhagen was where he made his Monumental Discovery regarding electricity and
magnetism one year after Ur had graduated in the year 18 1900 an invention was made that would set urad down a path that would lead him to his famous accidental Discovery this invention was made by allesandro Volta which he called the pile the voltaic pile was the first battery made that could provide an electric current to a circuit continuously and opened up the possibility for countless new potential experiments with electricity while this battery expanded the potential with electricity surprisingly no connections were made between electricity and magnetism for an entire 20 years of the voltaic piles
use this would change however on April 21st 1820 a day when stad was preparing for a lecture at the University of Copenhagen upon setting up a closed circuit and electrifying a wire urad noticed that the needle of a nearby Compass jumped upon discovering this Hans set up experiments throughout the months following the discovery to test the effects of a circuit on Compass needles the experimental setup for these tests was rather simple four Compass needles were placed in spots surrounding a wire that was hooked up to a voltaic pile when no current was applied all the
compass needles aligned with Earth's magnetic field however when the current was applied the needles aligned themselves in a way that showed a circular magnetic field that was generated around the wire itself urad published his discovery on July 1st 1820 in a pamphlet entitled experiments on the effect of an electrical current on the magnetic needle the extent of Ed's influence on the founding of the study of electromagnetism ends at this discovery as much of the advancements and understanding were made by others soon after the release of his par pamplet the most notable of these subsequent scientists
was Andre Marie aare who made significant mathematical applications to the study regardless the discovery made by Hans Christian stad was Monumental the connection Hans made between the two phenomena earned him considerable amounts of recognition and he won the cople medal for his efforts in the exact same year as his Discovery in 1820 urad was not just known for connecting electricity and magnetism for he was also a rather talented chemist Not only was he the first person to isolate pepperine the same year as his Discovery in physics but also was the first person to isolate aluminum
in the year 1825 urad even extended his talents into the world of poetry and was in the middle of writing his book The Soul in nature when he passed away in 1851 Hans Christian UR dead was a man of many talents and his Discovery connecting electricity and magnetism opened up a window leading to the unification of the two forces settling a multi-century debate and leading scientists one step closer to a unified theory of everything if you enjoyed this video please consider liking and subscribing click here if you want to see more scientific progress made during
this time period thank you for watching and I will see you in the next video
