Abstract
FOR the claim that is sometimes made that the magnet was first known to the Chinese, Dr. Kramer finds no support, but after examining the works of Aristotle and others, he comes to the conclusion that the magnet was discovered accidentally by one of the Grecian tribes who originally inhabited Thessaly and were called Magnetes. The discovery was made in one of the settlements in Asia Minor, in the Province of Lydia, about 600 B.C. That magnets attract through a distance, that they induce magnetism in iron, and that they repel as well as attract, are mentioned by Lucretius. Who made the great discovery that if allowed to move freely a magnet pointed north and south is not known, but Peter Peregrinus describes the dual polarity of magnets. The work of Gilbert was based on 199 ‘magnetical experiments’, and his greatest original contribution to science was his magnificent discovery and proof that the earth is a colossal natural magnet in itself. Dr. Kramer's paper contains many extracts from the various writers on magnetism, and should prove of wide interest.
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Discovery of Magnetic Properties. Nature 129, 428–429 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/129428d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/129428d0