Friday, August 14, 2009

Happy Birthday Ørsted! (and Electromagnestism)


Today (August 14th) is the 232nd birthday of Hans Christian Ørsted, whose experimental work in 1820 discovered that electric currents generate magnetic fields, and hence can be said to be the discovery of electromagnetism (one of the four fundamental forces).

Google's logo for the day honors
Ørsted's birth by showing (in essence) his experimental set-up. Though I suspect most people who see it will think it is a bomb.

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