Abstract
In his book published in 1600 William Gilbert dismissed Porta’s theory of magnetism as “the ravings of a babbling old woman.” Porta replied that Gilbert was “an Englishman with barbarous manners.” Most scientists today when in disagreement with each other are a little more polite than that, at least in public. Despite their mutual condemnation both Gilbert and Porta are remembered for their contributions to experimental magnetism and for their (to modern ears) quaint theories. No theory of magnetism, however, whatever its weakness or strength, could begin to approach the truth as we know it while magnetism and electricity were regarded as separate, even if similar, phenomena. When the discovery of the united phenomenon of electromagnetism was announced by Oersted in 1820 a whole new world was opened for scientific exploration and the ground rules of our electrical science and engineering were made.
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© 1984 W. A. Atherton
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Atherton, W.A. (1984). The 1820s: Dawn of A New Age. In: From Compass to Computer. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17365-5_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17365-5_3
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