History
One of the first references to lodestone's magnetic properties is by 6th century BCE Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus, who is credited by the ancient Greeks with discovering lodestone's attraction to iron and other lodestones. The name "magnet" may come from lodestones found in Magnesia.
In China, the earliest literary reference to magnetism lies in a 4th century BC book called Book of the Devil Valley Master (鬼谷子): "The lodestone makes iron come or it attracts it." The earliest mention of the attraction of a needle appears in a work composed between 20 and 100 A.C. (論衡): "A lodestone attracts a needle." By the 12th century, the lodestone compass was being used for navigation in medieval China.
However, based on his find of an Olmec hematite artifact in Central America, the American astronomer John Carlson has suggested that "the Olmec may have discovered and used the geomagnetic lodestone compass earlier than 1000 BC". If true, this "predates the Chinese discovery of the geomagnetic lodestone compass by more than a millennium". Carlson speculates that the Olmecs may have used similar artifacts as a directional device for astrological or geomantic purposes, or to orientate their temples, the dwellings of the living or the interments of the dead.
Read more about this topic: Lodestone
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