Discovery and Development
Main article: History of electromagnetism See also: Magnetism history
Ancient people learned about magnetism from lodestones, naturally magnetized pieces of iron ore. They are naturally created magnets, which attract pieces of iron. The word magnet in Greek meant "stone from Magnesia", a part of ancient Greece where lodestones were found. Lodestones suspended so they could turn were the first magnetic compasses. The earliest known surviving descriptions of magnets and their properties are from Greece, India, and China around 2500 years ago. The properties of lodestones and their affinity for iron were written of by Pliny the Elder in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia.
By the 12th to 13th centuries AD, magnetic compasses were used in navigation in China, Europe, and elsewhere.
Read more about this topic: Magnet
Famous quotes containing the word discovery:
“He is not a true man of science who does not bring some sympathy to his studies, and expect to learn something by behavior as well as by application. It is childish to rest in the discovery of mere coincidences, or of partial and extraneous laws. The study of geometry is a petty and idle exercise of the mind, if it is applied to no larger system than the starry one.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)