Hidden Attraction: The Mystery and History of Magnetism

Gerrit L. Verschuur9780195064889, 0-19-506488-7

The author traces the history of magnetism to show how we moved from an era of superstition to the age of discovery out of curiosity and necessity. Verschuur examines the early myths about magnetism, the bizarre experiments with amputated frog’s legs and severed heads of sheep, and the breakthroughs of Michael Faraday and other pioneers who paved the way for advances in radio, telephone, and computer technology, and state-of-the-art theories about the universe. Black-and-white illustrations.

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Table of contents :
Contents……Page 10
1. Of Mystery and Magnets……Page 14
2. Clearing the Decks……Page 30
3. On the Magnetical Philosophy……Page 42
4. Let the Experimentation Begin……Page 54
5. Oersted and Ampère: The Birth of Electromagnetism……Page 66
6. Michael Faraday: The Era of Discovery Personified……Page 84
7. Fields and Faraday……Page 104
8. Maxwell Sees the Light……Page 118
9. Heinrich Hertz’s Grand Adventure……Page 136
10. Curiouser and Curiouser……Page 158
11. What If?……Page 174
12. Magnetic Fields in Space……Page 194
13. The Spark That Bridged the Universe……Page 210
14. The Era of Creativity……Page 220
15. The Wages of Curiosity……Page 234
Appendix: The Pattern of Progress……Page 244
C……Page 262
E……Page 263
K……Page 264
N……Page 265
S……Page 266
Z……Page 267