Search

1. ConceptIn modern understanding, any device that indicates direction can be considered a compass. Until the late 19th century, these included devices indicating direction using alignment with the Earth’s magnetic field (Magnetism), e.g. magnetic needles freely suspended from a wire, piercing a piece of straw floating in water, or balanced on a pivot inside a box. The ubiquitous presence of iron-rich, permanently magnetised minerals (usually called lodestones) enabled many cultures (China, Greec…

1. Concept The attractive power of natural magnets (i.e. lodestones; Latin  magnes; German  Magnetstein; French  aimant; Italian  magnete) was already reported in antiquity. In the 12th century, the north-south alignment of magnetized iron needles became known in Europe, and magnetism acquired its first eminent practical application in the form of the compass. Often mentioned in a single breath in antiquity, magnetism and electricity came to be treated as quite distinct in the early modern period. Only with the …