Robert Norman - Work

Work

Robert Norman is noted for The Newe Attractive, a pamphlet published in 1581 describing the lodestone (magnet) and practical aspects of navigation. More importantly, it included Norman's discovery of magnetic dip, the incline at an angle from the horizon by a compass needle. This effect is caused by the Earth's magnetic field not running parallel to the planet's surface. Norman demonstrated magnetic dip by creating a compass needle that pivoted on a horizontal axis. The needle tilted at a steep angle relative to the horizon line.

Magnetic inclination and local variations were known before Robert Norman, but his pamphlet had a greater influence than the earlier work.

The crater Norman on the Moon is named in his honour.

Read more about this topic:  Robert Norman

Famous quotes containing the word work:

    “Sleep, beloved, such a sleep
    As did that wild Tristram know
    When, the potion’s work being done,
    Roe could run or doe could leap
    Under oak and beechen bough,
    Roe could leap or doe could run....”
    —William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

    “The work of vegetation begins first in the irritability of the bark and leaf-buds.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “Where the whole man is involved there is no work. Work begins with the division of labor.”
    —Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)