Hans Christian Ørsted

Hans Christian Ørsted was born in Denmark on 14 August 1777, trained as both a chemist and physicist, and spent years wondering whether the fundamental forces of nature might be connected. In 1820 he ran a current through a wire during a lecture and watched a nearby compass deflect - the discovery that electric currents create magnetic fields, now called Oersted's law, and the birth of electromagnetism. He also isolated aluminium as a chemical element. A central figure of the Danish Golden Age, he kept close company with Hans Christian Andersen and was brother to Anders Sandøe Ørsted, who would become Prime Minister. He died on 9 March 1851.