Hans Christian Ørsted (
1777-
1851) was a
Danish physicist and
chemist, influenced by the thinking of
Immanuel Kant. In
1820 he discovered the relationship between
electricity and
magnetism in a very simple
experiment. He demonstrated that a wire carrying a current was able to deflect a magnetised
compass needle. Ørsted did not suggest any satisfactory explanation of the phenomenon, nor did he try to represent the phenomenon in a mathematical framework.
In 1825 he made a significant contribution to chemistry by producing aluminum for the first time.
See also: James Clerk Maxwell, physics.