# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/william-gilbert
# Generated: 2026-08-31T17:33:20.648Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/william-gilbert"
name: "William Gilbert"
slug: "william-gilbert"
description: "William Gilbert wrote the book that turned magnetism from parlor trick into science. De Magnete, published in 1600, was the first serious experimental study of magnetic force — and it made him the father of a field that wouldn't have a name for another two centuries."
tagline: "English physician, physicist and natural philosopher (1544-1603)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/William_Gilbert.jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
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  isoCode: "GB"
category:
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  slug: "doctors"
profileType:
  name: "Doctor"
  slug: "doctor"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1544-05-24"
deathDate: "1603-11-30"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           58.04
  momentum:             0.6539217437913168
  historical:           24.214668
  currentAttention:     11.78571428571429
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
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# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Gilbert was an English physician and natural philosopher born around May 24, 1544, who built his reputation by rejecting the Aristotelian orthodoxy that still ruled universities. He favored experiment over scholastic argument, a stance that led him to magnetism. In 1600 he published De Magnete, the work that secured his legacy and established magnetic study as a discipline rooted in observation rather than speculation. A unit of magnetomotive force — magnetic potential — was later named the Gilbert in his honor, though it has since been replaced by the ampere-turn. He died on November 30, 1603.