In the 1860s, Maxwell published his work describing electricity and magnetism within a single framework. Lorentz, Heaviside, and others refined his results, and voilà: Electromagnetism.

Ørsted's observation can be seen as one starting point for the trend towards "unification": the idea that multiple phenomenon that at first seem unrelated may in fact be aspects of a single, underlying subject.

This is one of the major themes of modern physics. All from a little twitch of a compass needle.

Ørsted thought it over for a few months, and convinced himself that an electric current could exert an effect on a magnetic compass needle. He published this conclusion three months after the lecture.

Not long after that, Ampère suggested that all magnetic fields are due to moving electric charges. Then, in 1831, Faraday showed that a changing magnetic field induces an electric current.

Ørsted's discovery reputedly took place on April 21, 1820, as he prepared a demonstration during a lecture.

When he connected a wire to a voltaic pile (a battery, or "galvanic apparatus") a nearby compass needle twitched as the current began to flow.

(There is some debate as to whether this was a genuinely unexpected discovery. He may have expected something like this from previous experiments.)

The physicist Hans Christian Ørsted was born #OTD in 1777.

In 1820 he demonstrated an unexpected connection between electric and magnetic phenomenon, believed by many to be unrelated, initiating the development of the theory of electromagnetism.

This observation started physicists down a path they would follow for the next few hundred years.

Image: Danmarks Tekniske Museum

“The effect may be considerable in a few centuries.”

A New Zealand newspaper posted a short article OTD in 1912 — 111 years ago! — pointing out that burning too much coal would have a negative impact on Earth’s climate.

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ROTWKG19120814.2.56.5

@number137 It is.

Uh, @ivory lets me post a custom :dnd: emoji? Yes, please.

Interesting historical note! Intel was incorporated on July 18, 1968 – 10 days after the date on the Semiconductor Family Tree article. Moore and Noyce left Fairchild, which is on the tree. Before that, they were among the “traitorous eight” who left Shockley (also on the tree) to found Fairchild.

@failedLyndonLaRouchite intel was incorporated 10 days after the date of this article! Moore and Noyce left Fairchild, which I think is on there.

☝️Updated the third post in the thread so that the “Semiconductor Family Tree” image is readable when you zoom in.

@pluralistic A+

@astro_jcm I have this problem with our window seat and the baby bunnies in the back yard.

@weyoun6 @richlv @denki I don’t think they are defending anything, just trying to understand what language they should use for his behavior. Imo there aren’t any hairs to be split here, but it seems they are being clear that his behavior was wrong.

Sorry I just think that headline is really funny.

[reporter flips open steno pad, licks the tip of their pencil]

"And what can you tell our readers about these 34 boys she beat in the math contest?"

The IEEE awards an annual Frances G. Hugle scholarship. You can read about it — and donate to the memorial fund that supports it — here:

https://wie.ieee.org/grants-scholarships/frances-b-hugel/

"34 Husky Boys Bow to a Girl in Math Tests”

Frances Hugle, née Sarnat, was born in Chicago and attended school in Hyde Park.

When she was seventeen she won a prominent math contest run by Wilson Junior College.

Her first place finish in the math contest prompted a Chicago Tribune story with a truly magnificent headline.

@Wikisteff Gotta do your own research on the zombie virus.

Frances co-founded a number of companies, including the early Silicon Valley firm Siliconix.

According to Wikipedia, she is the only woman included in Don Hoefler's 1968 "Semiconductor Family Tree."

Pdf: http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/still-image/PENDING/X3665.2007/Fairchild/FSC_ENews_Hoefler_July68.pdf