Hans Christian Oerstead was a Danish physicist, chemist and professor at Copenhagen. He is best-known for founding the relationship of electricity and magnetism, discovering electromagnetism.
Early Life of Oersted
Hans Christian Oersted was born in Rudjøbing, Denmark on August 14, 1777, son of a pharmacist, Søren Christian Oersted, and Karen Hermansen. He has a younger brother, Anders Sandoe, who later became the state minister, and sisters.
Since there was no formal schooling available in their hometown, Søren placed Hans and Anders with a German wigmaker, Christian Oldenberg, and his Danish wife to help them learn to read and write. Aged 12, Hans assisted his father in the pharmacy acquiring a useful grounding in chemistry.
Hans and Anders studied hard. Their intelligence was above average. They were both successful in passing with honors the entrance exam for the University of Copenhagen. Anders pursued law, whereas Hans was more inclined towards literature and philosophy, subjects in which he won prizes. For his doctoral thesis, he wrote about the architectonics of natural metaphysics, being a passionate disciple of Kant.
Career and Work
The year 1800 was Alessandro Volta's invention of the galvanic battery as a source of electric current. Aware of this discovery, Oersted was inspired to do more scientific research. He organized a second scientific tour for himself, with the help of a government travel grant. His travels included Germany, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam
On his return to Copenhagen, he found the university building damaged by fire. While waiting for a suitable work opening he gave public lectures. Within two years Oersted became assistant professor of physics at the university, produced a textbook of mechanical physics, and published in French an account of some research he had undertaken on the identity of electric and chemical forces.
More Work Plus Family Life
In 1812, he made another tour of France and Germany. This time he settled in Berlin for awhile and published in German the research paper which already had appeared in French. The next year, when he was back in Copenhagen, he married Inger Birgitte Ballum, a daughter of a minister. He also associated himself with a movement to introduce the German language into chemical terminology in place of French and Greek.
Discovery of Electromagnetism
As a part of his teaching activity, each month it was Oersted's custom to present an account of new scientific advances in a special lecture. Sometime in 1820, he presented his historic discovery that an electric current can displace a compass needle, the stronger the current he applied the greater the deflection.
For his achievement in electromagnetics, he received honors from the scientific world including the Royal Society of London's Copley medal, while the Paris Academy elected him a corresponding member. Oersted elevated Denmark to a rank in science not achieved since the days of Tycho Brahe.
A third state-aided tour in 1822 took Oersted back to France and Germany, and to England, where he met Michael Faraday. On his return he founded the Danish Society for the Promotion of Scientific Knowledge.
Final Years
The Danish government presented Oersted a country house near Copenhagen, but he did not live to enjoy it. Within months, he died peacefully in Copenhagen on March 9, 1851.
Oersted published many non-scientific works usually related to his metaphysical interests. He remained gracious and kind, devoted to his country, and committed to the cause of humanity through his scientific work.
Sources:
Biographical Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers (2002)
Remarkable Physicists by Ioan James, Cambridge University Press (2004)
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