Knowledge About Magnetism from Antiquity to the Early Modern Period

Anyone who has ever played around with two magnets will hardly forget it, the power of magnetism seems so amazing. Many modern technologies would be unthinkable without magnetism and electromagnetism today is a fundamental subject of physics. The ancient Egyptians were already familiar with the naturally occurring mineral magnetite and were aware of its astonishing power: this stone miraculously attracts iron and transfers its powers to it. Many centuries later, scholars described for the first time that the magnet also points North and used this knowledge in the magnetic compass. Due to its seemingly inexplicable powers, it posed great puzzles to researchers and the most daring theories were developed to solve them. In this seminar, we will take a longue durée perspective to trace how knowledge about magnetism changed from antiquity to the 17th century, what it encompassed and the theoretical and practical contexts in which it was integrated. This seminar will be based on source texts, which will be analyzed in English. In addition to reading, the plan is also to recreate individual experiments or apparatus described in the sources. The seminar will be held in English. Vorbesprechungstermin: 19.04.2024 10-11:30 Uhr per Zoom, (https://tu-berlin.zoom.us/j/63384614726?pwd=dm04NldhMnhkeHFBOUF2M0F3QjNMUT09), Zeitraum: Mo. 29.07.- Fr. 02.08.24, je 9-16 Uhr in Präsenz, Raum: MAR 0.008