Physicist (1777-1851)
“Reason in reason = the true. Reason in will = the good. Reason in imagination = the beautiful”
Greeting from H.C. Ørsted to Hans Christian Andersen
“The great Hans Christian” was the appellation given by Hans Christian Andersen to his friend and teacher H.C. Ørsted. And his admiration was indeed justified. While lecturing in 1820, Ørsted discovered electromagnetism. So he can claim a good deal of the honour for the fact that today satellites can circle the earth and provide us with fresh knowledge about the earth’s magnetic field. One of Ørsted´s most important achievements in the field of chemistry, was the production of aluminium.
However, Ørsted’s talents and interests extended beyond physics. For he was convinced that all things in the universe were, both material and spiritual, related. He described this in his philosophical work Ånden i naturen (The Spirit in Nature).
Another of Ørsted’s fields of interest was the expansion of language. He was successful in establishing the terms ilt and brint as the Danish words for oxygen and hydrogen, replacing surstof and vandstof , which were the accepted terms during the Golden Age.
Facts
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1806
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Professor of Physics
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1820
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The discovery of electromagnetism
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1824
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The production of aluminium
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1829
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Director of Polyteknisk Læreanstalt, now known as the Technical University of Denmark
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1849-50
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Ånden i Naturen (The Spirit in Nature)
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More About Ørsted
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