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HISTORY OF PHYSICS
A Christmas Tale
Hans Christian Oersted is given the credit for the discovery of electromagnetism. In his famous experiment made public in 1820 he showed that a current can interact with a magnet (magnetic compass needle).
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A Christmas Tale
Hans Christian Oersted is given the credit for the discovery of electromagnetism. In his famous experiment made public in 1820 he showed that a current can interact with a magnet (magnetic compass needle).
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However, in 1802 an Italian jurist and amateur physicist, Gian Domenico Romagnosi, had made a similar discovery (18 years before!).
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Romagnosi published his findings on the Gazzetta di Trento (August 3rd) and on the Gazzetta di Rovereto (August 13th), containing more information on the experiment carried out in Trento.
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In the month of May 1802 Romagnosi completed in Trento the experiment in which he effectively observed the deviation of the magnetic needle.
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"I have recently published in the Gazzetta di Rovereto a discovery of mine on the effects of the galvanic current on magnetism", he told to a friend that year.
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Napoleon had established in 1801 an annual prize to support relevant discoveries in electricity and galvanism. So, Romagnosi sent a copy of his work to the Académie des Sciences in Paris. The paper was forwarded to the Committee but, unfortunately, no report was made.
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In 1820 the attention of the world was attracted by Oersted’s discovery carried out in Copenhagen. The Oersted paper had a crucial impact on the scientific community.
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The Romagnosi’s experiment is mentioned by Oersted only in 1830. In a long article published on the Edinburgh Encyclopedia (Oersted, 1830) he presented a history
of electromagnetism.
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of electromagnetism.
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"Aldini mentions, at the same time, that a certain Mr. Romanesi (sic) at Trent ... observed that galvanism makes the magnetic needle deviate. Aldini does not say a word more upon this subject. It is, therefore, not surprising, that neither the French institute, ...
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nor the learned societies, nor the numerous natural philosophers took any notice of this observation, which would have accelerated the discovery of electromagnetism by sixteen years (sic)."
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There is a private letter written by Romagnosi in 1827 commenting on Oersted’s experiment and claiming priority in the discovery of electromagnetism.
He died in 1835.
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He died in 1835.
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