Hans Oersted’s Discovery in 1820, Contributions and His Life

Hans Christian Oersted was a Danish chemist and scientist who established the first link between electricity and magnetism when he proved that electric currents produce magnetic fields. He was born on the 14th of August 1777 and passed away on the 9th of March 1851. This was the first relationship of its kind. The Oersted unit (Oe) and Oersted’s legislation were given their names in his honour. Hans Christian Andersen was a personal acquaintance of Danish Golden Age leader Oersted, the brother of Danish Prime Minister Anders Sande Oersted from 1853 to 1854. Anders Sande Oersted served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 1853 to 1854. Explore more about Hans Christian Oersted’s facts and Hans Christian Oersted’s contributions.

Early Life and Studies of Hans Christian Oersted

Orsted was born in the Danish town of Rudkobing in 1777. As a young lad, he became interested in science while working at his father’s neighbourhood pharmacy. Before travelling to Copenhagen in 1793 to take entrance exams for the University of Copenhagen, where both boys excelled academically, he and his brother Anders received the most of their early schooling at home. By 1796, Orsted had received recognition for his contributions to both aesthetics and science. In 1799, he was given a doctorate for his Kant-inspired dissertation, The Architectonics of Natural Metaphysics.

Travels and Investigation

Volta’s discovery of the Voltaic pile in 1800 inspired Orsted to perform his first electrical experiments and investigate the nature of electricity. In 1801, Orsted earned a travel scholarship and a stipend from the government, which enabled him to travel around Europe for three years. He travelled around Europe to visit scientific offices, including Berlin and Paris.

In Germany, Orsted met Johann Wilhelm Ritter, a scientist who thought electricity and magnetism were interrelated. This thought made sense to Orsted as a Kantian who believed in the oneness of nature. In 1806, he was appointed as a  professor at the University of Copenhagen, where he continued to study electric currents and acoustics. Under his leadership, the institution constructed new facilities and developed new physics and chemistry departments.

In the fall of 1806, Orsted welcomed William Christopher Zeise into his family’s house. He hired Zeise as a teaching assistant and oversaw the young scientist. Orsted returned to Germany and France after completing Videnskaben om Naturens Almindelige Love and Forste Indledning til den Almindelige Naturlaere in 1812.

Hans Christian Oersted’s Contribution to the Thought Experiment

Hans Oersted’s discovery in 1820 was a thought experiment, and Orsted was the first contemporary thinker to characterise it as a “thought experiment.” He used the Latin-German phrase Gedankenexperiment around 1812 and the German term Gedankenversuch around 1820. In the 1820s, Orsted created a novel piezometer to measure the compressibility of liquids.

A brief overview of Electromagnetism

In 1820, Hans Oersted announced his findings. He said that a close electric current might deflect a compass needle away from magnetic north, demonstrating that electricity and magnetism are inextricably linked. According to popular perception, Orsted discovered this phenomenon during a presentation. Since 1818, he had been trying to find a link between electricity and magnetism, but his results perplexed him.

His initial hypothesis was that magnetic phenomenon emanated from both sides of an electric current-carrying wire, similar to light and heat. Three months later, he published the results of a more extensive experiment, proving that an electric current travelling through a wire produces a circular magnetic field. In 1820, the Royal Society of London awarded Orsted the Copley Medal, and the French Academy awarded him 3,000 francs for his discovery.

Oersted, as a Professor

After Oersted had returned home from his travels, the Danish government made it possible for him to continue his education by providing financial assistance. In 1806, when he was just 29 years old, he was given a position as a physics professor at the University of Copenhagen. Because he was such a good instructor, a line of students was waiting to get into his courses. It was a significant burden that he sometimes had to teach for as long as five hours each day. In addition to teaching, he established research and teaching labs in physics and chemistry. Hans Christian Oersted’s contributions included the knowledge he passed down to the coming generations.

Awards

For his discovery of electromagnetism in 1820, the British Royal Society awarded Oersted the Copley Medal. Benjamin Franklin and Alessandro Volta were among the previous winners. The French Academy awarded Oersted 3000 gold francs.

Hans Christian Oersted Facts and Personal Life

In the years that followed, Oersted married Birgitte Ballum, who was the daughter of a preacher. They had three boys and four daughters in their martial life. Hans Christian Oersted died on the 9th of March 1851, in Copenhagen at 73, after suffering from a brief phase of illness.

He was put to rest at the Assistens Cemetery in the Copenhagen district of Noerrebro. Here are the graves of scientists Niels Bohr and Hans Christian Andersen and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard.

Conclusion

A new period in the history of science began when Hans Oersted discovered in 1820, that electricity and magnetism are related to one another. Along with a series of experiments, he determined that an electric current that is moving through a wire may cause a neighbouring magnet to move. Electromagnetism was the discipline that paved the way for the ultimate development of our contemporary, technologically driven civilisation. In addition to this, Oersted discovered the chemical substance piperine and was the first person to separate aluminium successfully.