August 14th is Hans Christian ?rsted's birthday. ?rsted was a Danish physicist and chemist who made the discovery that related electricity to magnetism. He discovered the needle of a compass would point towards the wire when he allowed an electric current to pass through a wire. He also found if he reversed the direction of the current, the needle would point away from the wire.
Although he made this major discovery, he did not pursue it any further. Electromagnetism would have to wait for French physicist Andr?-Marie Amp?re to express this effect through mathematics. Find out more about ?rsted and what else occurred on this day in science history.
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