View source for Biography:Hans Christian Ørsted

{{short description|Danish physicist and chemist (1777–1851)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Hans Christian Ørsted
| honorific-suffix  = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRSE|size=100%}}
| image             = Hans Christian Ørsted daguerreotype.jpg
| caption           =
| birth_date        = {{birth date|df=yes|1777|8|14}}
| birth_place       = Rudkøbing, Denmark-Norway
| death_date        = {{death date and age|df=yes|1851|3|9|1777|8|14}}
| death_place       = [[Place:Copenhagen|Copenhagen]], Denmark
| residence         = 
| citizenship       = 
| nationality       = Danish
| ethnicity         = 
| field             = [[Physics:Physics|Physics]], [[Chemistry:Chemistry|chemistry]], [[Social:Aesthetics|aesthetics]]
| work_institutions = [[Organization:University of Copenhagen|University of Copenhagen]], Technical University of Denmark (Founder and Principal)
| alma_mater        = [[Organization:University of Copenhagen|University of Copenhagen]] (PhD, 1799)<ref name="Daintith, Biog Sci">{{cite book |editor-last1=Daintith |editor-first1=J. |editor-last2=Mitchell |editor-first2=S. |editor-last3=Tootill |editor-first3=E. |chapter=Oersted, Hans Christian |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/biographicalency02dain/page/602/mode/2up |chapter-url-access=registration |title=Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists |volume=2 |page=603 |publisher=Facts on File |location=New York |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-87196-396-3 |oclc=6709010 |ol=4108681M}}</ref>
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = {{ubli|indent=1em|Discovery of [[Physics:Electromagnetism|electromagnetism]] and [[Chemistry:Aluminium|aluminium]]|Ørsted's law|[[Thought experiment]]}}
| awards            = {{ubli|indent=1em|Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog<ref name="annals">{{cite book |last1=Oersted |first1=J. C. |chapter=Experiments on the Effect of a Current of Electricity on the Magnetic Needle |chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435051156651&view=1up&seq=297 |editor-last1=Thomson |editor-first1=T. |title=Annals of Philosophy; or, Magazine of Chemistry, Mineralogy, Mechanics, Natural History, Agriculture, and the Arts |volume=XVI |date=1820 |place=London |publisher=Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy |pages=273–276 |oclc=9529852 |hdl=2027/osu.32435051156651 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>|[[Physics:Copley Medal|Copley Medal]] (1820)<ref name="NA7482">{{cite web |title=Bibliographic Record: NA7482 |url=https://catalogues.royalsociety.org/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Persons&id=NA7482&pos=1 |publisher=The Royal Society of London |access-date=20 March 2023}}</ref>|Order ''Pour le Mérite'' for Sciences and Arts (1842)<ref>{{cite book |author1=Orden Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste |title=Die Mitglieder des Ordens |date=1975 |publisher=Gebrüder Mann Verlag |location=Berlin |isbn=978-3-78616-189-9 |volume=1 |page=78 |url=https://www.orden-pourlemerite.de/plm/publikationen/1_mitgliederband.pdf |language=de |oclc=2090453}}</ref>}}
| footnotes         = 
| signature         = Hans Christian Ørsted signature.svg
| spouse            = Inger Birgitte Ballum
| children          = Karen Ørsted; Sophie Wilhelmine Bertha Ørsted<!--Not the socialite who married his brother-->; Mathilde Elisabeth Ørsted; Anders Sandøe Ørsted<!--Not the brother-->; Albert Nicolay Ørsted; Anna Dorthea Maria Ørsted and Niels Christian Ørsted 
}}
'''Hans Christian Ørsted''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRSE}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɜːr|s|t|ɛ|d}},<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/oersted "Oersted"]. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.</ref> {{IPA-da|ˈhænˀs ˈkʰʁestjæn ˈɶɐ̯steð|lang|Da-Ørsted.oga}}; often rendered '''Oersted''' in English{{notetag|Depending on orthography and editorial convention, it may also be rendered '''Orsted''' or '''Örsted'''.}}; 14 August 1777{{spaced ndash}}9 March 1851) was a Danish [[Physicist|physicist]] and [[Chemist|chemist]] who discovered that [[Physics:Electric current|electric current]]s create [[Physics:Magnetic field|magnetic field]]s, which was the first connection found between [[Physics:Electricity|electricity]] and [[Physics:Magnetism|magnetism]]. [[Physics:Oersted's law|Oersted's law]] and the [[Physics:Oersted|oersted]] unit (Oe) are named after him.

A leader of the Danish Golden Age, Ørsted was a close friend of Hans Christian Andersen and the brother of politician and jurist Anders Sandøe Ørsted, who served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 1853 to 1854.

==Early life and studies==
[[File:Hans Christian Ørsted som ung.jpg|thumb|left|150px|The young H. C. Ørsted]]
Ørsted was born in Rudkøbing in 1777. As a young boy he developed an interest in science while working for his father, who was a pharmacist in the town's pharmacy.<ref name="dsd">{{cite web |last1=Jacobsen |first1=A. S. |last2=Knudsen |first2=O. |title=H.C. Ørsted |url=https://denstoredanske.lex.dk/H.C._%C3%98rsted |website=Den Store Danske |publisher=Gyldendal |language=da |date=14 April 2021 |access-date=12 April 2023}}</ref> He and his brother Anders received most of their early education through self-study at home, going to Copenhagen in 1793 to take entrance exams for the [[Organization:University of Copenhagen|University of Copenhagen]], where both brothers excelled academically. By 1796, Ørsted had been awarded honors for his papers in both [[Social:Aesthetics|aesthetics]] and [[Physics:Physics|physics]]. He earned his doctorate in 1799 for a dissertation based on the works of [[Biography:Immanuel Kant|Kant]] entitled ''The Architectonics of Natural Metaphysics''.

In 1800, [[Biography:Alessandro Volta|Alessandro Volta]] reported his invention of the voltaic pile, which inspired Ørsted to investigate the nature of electricity and to conduct his first electrical experiments. In 1801, Ørsted received a travel [[Social:Scholarship|scholarship]] and public grant which enabled him to spend three years traveling across Europe. He toured science headquarters throughout the continent, including in Berlin and Paris.<ref>{{cite web |title=Inspiration fra Europa – planer i København |date=27 February 2023 |trans-title=Inspiration from Europe – Plans in Copenhagen |url=https://nbi.ku.dk/hhh/hco/oersted/uddannelsen/ |publisher=Niels Bohr Institutet, Københavns Universitet |access-date=12 April 2023 |language=da}}</ref>

In Germany Ørsted met [[Biography:Johann Wilhelm Ritter|Johann Wilhelm Ritter]], a physicist who believed there was a connection between [[Physics:Electricity|electricity]] and [[Physics:Magnetism|magnetism]]. This idea made sense to Ørsted as he subscribed to [[Philosophy:Kantianism|Kantian]] thought regarding the [[Philosophy:Natural philosophy|unity of nature]].<ref name="dsd" /><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Brain |editor1-first=R. M. |editor2-last=Cohen |editor2-first=R. S. |editor3-last=Knudsen |editor3-first=O. |title=Hans Christian Ørsted and the Romantic Legacy in Science: Ideas, Disciplines, Practices |date=2007 |series=Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science |volume=241 |publisher=Springer |place=Dordrecht |isbn=978-1-40202-979-0 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4020-2987-5 |oclc=181067920}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=March 2023}} Ørsted's conversations with Ritter drew him into the study of physics. He became a professor at the [[Organization:University of Copenhagen|University of Copenhagen]] in 1806 and continued research on electric currents and acoustics. Under his guidance the university developed a comprehensive physics and chemistry program and established new laboratories. {{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

Ørsted welcomed [[Biography:William Christopher Zeise|William Christopher Zeise]] to his family home in autumn 1806. He granted Zeise a position as his lecturing assistant and took the young chemist under his tutelage. In 1812, Ørsted again visited Germany and France after publishing {{lang|da|Videnskaben om Naturens Almindelige Love}} and {{lang|da|Første Indledning til den Almindelige Naturlære}} (1811).

Ørsted was the first modern thinker to explicitly describe and name the [[Thought experiment|thought experiment]]. He used the Latin-German term {{lang|de|Gedankenexperiment}} circa 1812 and the German term {{lang|de|Gedankenversuch}} in 1820.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Witt-Hansen |first1=J. |title=H.C. Ørsted, Immanuel Kant, and the Thought Experiment |journal=Danish Yearbook of Philosophy |date=1976 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=48–65 |doi=10.1163/24689300-01301004 |issn=0070-2749}}</ref>

In 1819 Ørsted was the first to extract [[Chemistry:Piperine|piperine]] and subsequently name it. He extracted it from ''[[Biology:Piper nigrum|Piper nigrum]]'', the plant from which both white and black pepper comes from.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ørsted |first=Hans Christian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k-M4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA80 |title=Über das Piperin, ein neues Pflanzenalkaloid|language=de |trans-title=On piperine, a new plant alkaloid |journal=Schweiggers Journal für Chemie und Physik |volume= 29 |issue= 1 |pages=80–82 |date=1820}}</ref>

Ørsted designed a new type of [[Earth:Piezometer|piezometer]] to measure the compressibility of liquids in 1822.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aitken |first1=F. |last2=Foulc |first2=J.-N. |title=From Tait's Work on the Compressibility of Seawater to Equations-of-State for Liquids |series=From Deep Sea to Laboratory |volume=3 |date=2019 |publisher=ISTE |location=London |isbn=978-1-78630-376-9 |doi=10.1002/9781119663362|s2cid=204258765 }}</ref>

==Electromagnetism==
[[File:17. Естердов експеримент.ogv|thumb|A compass needle with a wire, showing the effect Ørsted discovered.]]
{{electromagnetism|Scientists}}

In 1820, Ørsted published his discovery that a [[Physics:Compass|compass]] needle was deflected from magnetic north by a nearby electric current, confirming a direct relationship between electricity and magnetism.<ref name="Fahie">{{cite book |last1=Fahie |first1=J. J. |title=A History of Electric Telegraphy to the Year 1837 |date=1884 |publisher=E. & F. N. Spon |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924031221249/page/n1/mode/2up |oclc=1417165 |ol=6993294M |ol-access=free}}</ref>{{rp|274}} The often reported story that Ørsted made this discovery incidentally during a lecture is a myth. He had, in fact, been looking for a connection between electricity and magnetism since 1818, but was quite confused by the results he was obtaining.<ref name=Martins>{{cite book |last1=Martins |first1=R. A. |date=2003 |chapter=Resistance to the Discovery of Electromagnetism: Ørsted and the Symmetry of the Magnetic Field |chapter-url=http://ppp.unipv.it/Collana/Pages/Libri/Saggi/Volta%20and%20the%20History%20of%20Electricity/V&H%20Sect3/V&H%20245-265.pdf |editor-last1=Bevilacqua |editor-first1=F. |editor-last2=Giannetto |editor-first2=E. |title=Volta and the History of Electricity |publisher=Editore Ulrico Hoepli |place=Milano |pages=245–265 |isbn=978-8-82033-284-6 |oclc=1261807533|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723033012/http://ppp.unipv.it/Collana/Pages/Libri/Saggi/Volta%20and%20the%20History%20of%20Electricity/V&H%20Sect3/V&H%20245-265.pdf |archive-date=23 July 2011 }}</ref><ref name="Fahie" />{{rp|273}}

His initial interpretation was that magnetic effects radiate from all sides of a wire carrying an electric current, as do light and heat. Three months later, he began more intensive investigations and soon thereafter published his findings, showing that an electric current produces a circular magnetic field as it flows through a wire.<ref name="annals" /><ref name="Martins" /> For his discovery, the Royal Society of London awarded Ørsted the [[Physics:Copley Medal|Copley Medal]] in 1820 and the French Academy granted him 3,000 francs.

Ørsted's findings stirred much research into electrodynamics throughout the scientific community, influencing French physicist [[Biography:André-Marie Ampère|André-Marie Ampère]]'s developments of a single mathematical formula to represent the magnetic forces between current-carrying conductors. Ørsted's work also represented a major step toward a unified concept of energy.

The Ørsted effect brought about a communications revolution due to its application to the electric telegraph.  The possibility of such a telegraph was suggested almost immediately by mathematician [[Biography:Pierre-Simon Laplace|Pierre-Simon Laplace]] and Ampère presented a paper based on Laplace's idea the same year as Ørsted's discovery.<ref name="Fahie" />{{rp|302–303}} However, it was almost two decades before it became a commercial reality.

==Later years==
[[File:Hans Christian Ørsted statue at Oxford.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue of Ørsted at Oxford]]
Ørsted was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in March 1821,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Waterston |first1=C. D. |last2=Macmillan Shearer |first2=A. |title=Biographical Index of the Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1783–2002 |url=https://rse.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/RSE-Fellows-BiographicalIndex-2.pdf |access-date=20 March 2023 |volume=II |page=703 (in work p. 215) |date=July 2006 |publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh |isbn=978-0-90219-884-5}}</ref> a Foreign Member of the Royal Society of London in April 1821,<ref name="NA7482" /> a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1822, a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1829,<ref>{{cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?year=1829;year-max=1829;smode=advanced;f1-date=1829 |access-date=7 April 2021 |publisher=American Philosophical Society}}</ref> and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1849.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite book |chapter=Chapter O |title=Members of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences: 1780–2012 |chapter-url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterO.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220184159/http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterO.pdf |archive-date=20 December 2016 |access-date=8 September 2016 |url-status=dead |publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences |page=401}}</ref>

He founded the {{ill|Selskabet for Naturlærens Udbredelse|da}} (Society for the Dissemination of Natural Science, SNU) in 1824. He was also the founder of predecessor organizations which eventually became the Danish Meteorological Institute and the Danish Patent and Trademark Office. In 1829, Ørsted founded {{lang|da|Den Polytekniske Læreanstalt|italic=no}} (College of Advanced Technology), which was later renamed the Technical University of Denmark (DTU).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dtu.dk/English/About_DTU/History_of_DTU.aspx |title=History of DTU |publisher=Danmarks Tekniske Universitet |place=Kongens Lyngby |access-date=2009-08-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090902070101/http://www.dtu.dk/English/About_DTU/History_of_DTU.aspx |archive-date=2009-09-02}}</ref>

In 1824, Ørsted made a significant contribution to [[Chemistry:Chemistry|chemistry]] by being the first person to successfully produce [[Chemistry:Aluminium|aluminium]] in its metallic state, albeit in a less-than-pure form.<ref name="pc1825">{{cite book |editor-last1=Ørsted |editor-first1=H. C. |chapter=Physisk Classe |title=Oversigt over det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskabs Forhandlinger og dets Medlemmers Arbeider fra 31 Mai 1824 til 31 Mai 1825 |date=1825 |pages=15–16 |place=København |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435054254693&view=1up&seq=17 |language=da |hdl=2027/osu.32435054254693 |hdl-access=free |issn=0369-7169 |oclc=32565767}}</ref><ref name="drozdov">{{cite book |last=Drozdov |first=A. |year=2007 |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416035813/http://www.rusal.ru/en/press-center/RUSAL%20Encyclopedia_full_engl_FINAL.pdf<!--Deny Citation Bot--> |title=Aluminium: The Thirteenth Element |pages=36–37 |publisher=RUSAL Library |place=Moscow |isbn=978-5-91523-002-5|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416035813/http://www.rusal.ru/en/press-center/RUSAL%20Encyclopedia_full_engl_FINAL.pdf<!--Deny Citation Bot--> }}</ref> In 1808, [[Biography:Humphry Davy|Humphry Davy]] had predicted the existence of the metal which he gave the name of ''alumium''. However his attempts to isolate it using electrolysis processes were unsuccessful; the closest he came was an aluminium-iron alloy.<ref name="Kvande">{{cite journal |last1=Kvande |first1=H. |title=Two hundred years of aluminum... or is it aluminium? |journal=JOM |date=2008 |volume=60 |issue=8 |pages=23–24 |doi=10.1007/s11837-008-0102-3 |bibcode=2008JOM....60h..23K |s2cid=135517326 }}</ref> Ørsted succeeded in isolating the metallic form by reacting [[Chemistry:Aluminium chloride|aluminium chloride]] with [[Chemistry:Potassium|potassium]] [[Chemistry:Amalgam|amalgam]] (an alloy of potassium and [[Chemistry:Mercury (element)|mercury]]) and then boiling away the mercury, which left small "chunks" of metal that he described as appearing similar to [[Chemistry:Tin|tin]].<ref name="pc1825" />{{notetag|This description, combined with others Ørsted gave subsequently, suggests that he had actually obtained an alloy of aluminium and potassium.<ref name="drozdov" />}} He presented his results and a sample of the metal at meetings of the Danish Academy of Sciences in early 1825, but otherwise appears to have considered his discovery to be of limited importance.<ref name="p-and-n">{{cite book |last=Christensen |first=D. C. |year=2013 |chapter=Aluminium: Priority and Nationalism |title=Hans Christian Ørsted: Reading Nature's Mind |pages=424–430 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19966-926-4 |oclc=847943710 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199669264.001.0001}}</ref> This ambivalence, coupled with the limited audience for the Danish Academy's journal in which the results had been published, meant that the discovery went mostly unnoticed by the wider scientific community at the time.<ref name="p-and-n" /><ref name="lostelements">{{cite book |last1=Fontani |first1=M. |last2=Costa |first2=M. |last3=Orna |first3=M. V. |title=The Lost Elements: The Periodic Table's Shadow Side |year=2015 |page=30 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19938-334-4 |oclc=873238266}}</ref> Busy with other work, in 1827 Ørsted gave his friend, the German chemist [[Biography:Friedrich Wöhler|Friedrich Wöhler]], permission to take over the research.<ref name="p-and-n" /> Wöhler was able to produce approximately {{convert|30|g|oz}} of aluminium powder soon thereafter, using a process of his own design, before finally, in 1845, isolating a quantity of solid metal sufficient for him to describe some of its physical properties.<ref name="drozdov" />

[[File:Ørsted, Hans Christian (av Christian Albrecht Jensen 1842).jpg|thumb|right|upright|Portrait of Hans Christian Ørsted by Christian Albrecht Jensen (1842)]]

Ørsted died in Copenhagen in 1851, aged 73, and was buried in the Assistens Cemetery.

==Legacy==
[[File:Assistens Kirkegård - Hans Christian Ørsted.jpg|thumb|upright|Gravestone]]
The centimetre-gram-second system (CGS) unit of [[Physics:Electromagnetic induction|magnetic induction]] ([[Physics:Oersted|oersted]]) is named for his contributions to the field of electromagnetism.

===Toponymy===
The Ørsted Park in Copenhagen was named after Ørsted and his brother in 1879. The streets {{lang|da|H. C. Ørsteds Vej|italic=no}} in Frederiksberg and {{lang|da|H. C. Ørsteds Allé|italic=no}} in Galten are also named after him.

The buildings that are home to the Department of Chemistry and the Institute for Mathematical Sciences at the [[Organization:University of Copenhagen|University of Copenhagen]]'s North Campus are named the H.C. Ørsted Institute, after him. A dormitory named {{lang|da|H. C. Ørsted Kollegiet|italic=no}} is located in Odense.

The [[Engineering:Ørsted (satellite)|first Danish satellite]], launched in 1999, was named after Ørsted.

===Monuments and memorials===
[[File:Statue of Hans Christian Øersted, Øerstedsparken, Copenhagen.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Statue of Ørsted in Ørstedsparken, in Copenhagen.]]
A statue of Hans Christian Ørsted was installed in the Ørsted Park in 1880. A commemorative plaque is located above the gate on the building in {{lang|da|Studiestræde|italic=no}} where he lived and worked.

In 1885, a statue of Ørsted was installed in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

Ørsted's likeness has appeared twice on [[Finance:Danish krone#Banknotes|Danish banknotes]]; for the first time on 500{{nbsp}}kroner notes issued in 1875, and for the second time on 100{{nbsp}}kroner notes issued between 1962 and 1974.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sedler og Mønter: Portræt- og Landskabsserien |trans-title=Notes and Coins: The Portrait and Landscape Series |url=https://www.nationalbanken.dk/da/sedlerogmoenter/danske_pengesedler_tidligere/Sider/Portr%C3%A6t--og-landskabsserien.aspx |publisher=Danmarks Nationalbank |place=København |access-date=20 March 2023 |date=10 February 2014 |language=da}}</ref>

===Awards and lectures===
Two medals are awarded in Ørsted's name: the [[Physics:H. C. Ørsted Medal|H. C. Ørsted Medal]] for Danish scientists, awarded by the Danish Society for the Dissemination of Natural Science (SNU), as founded by Ørsted, and the [[Physics:Oersted Medal|Oersted Medal]] for notable contributions in the teaching of physics in America, awarded by [[Organization:American Association of Physics Teachers|American Association of Physics Teachers]].

The Technical University of Denmark hosts the H. C. Ørsted Lecture series for prominent and engaging researchers from around the world.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dtu.dk/english/research/research-at-dtu/oersted_lecture |title=DTU Ørsted Lectures |publisher=Danmarks Tekniske Universitet |place=Kongens Lyngby |access-date=20 March 2023 }}</ref>

==Works==
Ørsted was a published poet, as well as scientist. His poetry series {{lang|da|Luftskibet}} ("The Airship") was inspired by the balloon flights of fellow physicist and stage magician Étienne-Gaspard Robert.<ref name="NationalMuseet">{{cite web |title=1802: Balloon Expedition over Copenhagen |website=The Soul in Nature: The Danish Golden Age 1800–1850 |publisher=Nationalmuseet |place=København |url=http://www.natmus.dk/saer/aandeninaturen/engelsk/1802e/1802e.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927005721/http://www.natmus.dk/saer/aandeninaturen/engelsk/1802e/1802e.htm |access-date=30 July 2007 |archive-date=27 September 2007}}</ref> 
*{{cite book |last1=Ørsted |first1=H. C. |title=Luftskibet, et Digt |trans-title=The Airship, a Poem |year=1836 |language=da |url=http://digital.deutsches-museum.de/item/BV014441962/ |place=København |publisher=Gyldendal |oclc=28930872}}

In 1850, shortly before his death, he submitted for publication a two-volume collection of philosophical articles in German under the title {{lang|de|Der Geist in der Natur}} ("The Soul in Nature"). It was translated into English and published in one volume in 1852, the year after his death.
*{{cite book |last1=Ørsted |first1=H. C. |title=Der Geist in der Natur |trans-title=The Soul in Nature |year=1850–1851 |place=München |publisher=J. G. Cotta |language=de |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011545176 |oclc=653954}}
**{{cite book |last1=Ørsted |first1=H. C. |author-mask1=2 |title=The Soul in Nature, with Supplementary Contributions |series=Bohn's scientific library [16] |year=1852 |place=London |publisher=Henry G. Bohn |translator-first1=L. |translator-last1=Horner |translator-first2=J. B. |translator-last2=Horner |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t4zg7w20q&view=1up&seq=5 |oclc=8719272 |hdl=2027/loc.ark:/13960/t4zg7w20q |hdl-access=free}}

Other works:
{{Incomplete list|date=March 2023}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Ørsted |first1=H. C. |title=Betragtninger over Chemiens Historie |trans-title=Considerations on the History of Chemistry |journal=Det Skandinaviske Litteraturselskabs Skrifter |date=1807 |volume=2 |pages=1–54 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OrkEAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA1 |publisher=Andreas Seidelin |location=København |language=da |oclc=872505637}}
*{{cite book |last1=Ørsted |first1=H. C. |author-mask1=2 |title=Videnskaben om Naturens almindelige Love |trans-title=The Science of the General Laws of Nature |date=1809 |publisher=Fr. Brummer |location=København |url=https://soeg.kb.dk/permalink/45KBDK_KGL/143rgf3/alma99122361104705763 |language=da |oclc=488860438}}
*{{cite book |last1=Ørsted |first1=H. C. |author-mask1=2 |title=Ansicht der chemischen Naturgesetze, durch die neuern Entdeckungen gewonnen |trans-title=View of the Chemical Laws of Nature Gained Through Recent Discoveries |date=1812 |publisher=Realschulbuchhandlung |location=Berlin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Te3WSbV2TkgC&pg=PP5 |language=de |oclc=28640794}}
*{{cite book |last1=Ørsted |first1=H. C. |author-mask1=2 |title=Imod den store Anklager |trans-title=Against the Great Accuser |language=da |year=1814 |place=København |publisher=Andreas Seidelin |url=https://soeg.kb.dk/permalink/45KBDK_KGL/ou0fj0/alma99122980556305763 |oclc=19092207}}
*{{cite book |last1=Ørsted |first1=H. C. |author-mask1=2 |chapter=Experiments on the Effect of a Current of Electricity on the Magnetic Needle |chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435051156651&view=1up&seq=297 |editor-last1=Thomson |editor-first1=T. |title=Annals of Philosophy; or, Magazine of Chemistry, Mineralogy, Mechanics, Natural History, Agriculture, and the Arts |volume=XVI |date=1820 |place=London |publisher=Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy |pages=273–276 |oclc=9529852 |hdl=2027/osu.32435051156651 |hdl-access=free}}
*{{cite book |last1=Ørsted |first1=H. C. |author-mask1=2 |title=Naturlærens mechaniske Deel |trans-title=The Mechanical Part of Natural Learning |date=1844 |publisher=C. A. Reitzel |location=København |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101058433184&view=1up&seq=7 |language=da |oclc=22224906 |hdl=2027/njp.32101058433184 |hdl-access=free}}
*{{cite book |last1=Ørsted |first1=H. C. |author-mask1=2 |title=Der mechanische Theil der Naturlehre |trans-title=The Mechanical Part of Natural Learning |language=de |year=1851 |place=Braunschweig |publisher=Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn |url=https://archive.org/details/dermechanischet00rsgoog |oclc=9489733 |ol=6960604M |ol-access=free}}
*{{cite book |editor-last1=Harding |editor-first1=M. C. |title=Correspondance de H. C. Örsted avec divers savants |trans-title=The Correspondence of H. C. Örsted with Various Scholars |year=1920 |place=Copenhaugue |publisher=H. Aschehoug & Co. |oclc=11070734}}
**<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible">[https://archive.org/details/correspondancede00rsuoft/mode/2up Volume I]</span>, containing correspondence with [[Biography:Jöns Jacob Berzelius|Jöns Jacob Berzelius]], Christopher Hansteen, and Christian Samuel Weiss.
**<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible">[https://archive.org/details/correspondancede02rsuoft/mode/2up Volume II]</span>, containing correspondence with [[Biography:Johann Wilhelm Ritter|Johann Wilhelm Ritter]] and numerous others, including [[Biography:Michael Faraday|Michael Faraday]] and [[Biography:Carl Friedrich Gauss|Carl Friedrich Gauss]].

A significant number of Ørsted's papers were made available in English for the first time in a compilation published in 1998:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Caneva |first1=K. L. |title=Book Review: Hans Christian Ørsted, 'Selected Scientific Works of Hans Christian Ørsted', Edited and translated by Karen Jelved, Andrew D. Jackson, and Ole Knudsen ... |journal=Isis |date=1999 |volume=90 |issue=4 |pages=819–820 |doi=10.1086/384554}}</ref>
*{{cite book |last1=Ørsted |first1=H. C. |editor1-last=Jelved |editor1-first=K. |editor2-last=Jackson |editor2-first=A. D. |editor3-last=Knudsen |editor3-first=O. |title=Selected Scientific Works of Hans Christian Ørsted |date=1998 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-69104-334-0 |oclc=36393437 |jstor=j.ctt7zvhx2}}

==See also==
* [[Chemistry:History of aluminium|History of aluminium]]
* [[Biography:James Clerk Maxwell|James Clerk Maxwell]]
* [[Biography:Michael Faraday|Michael Faraday]]
* Gian Domenico Romagnosi, who also observed an electrostatic attraction of a compass needle.

==Notes==
{{notefoot}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |contributor-last1=Möller |contributor-first1=P. L. |contribution=The Life of H. C. Oersted |contribution-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t4zg7w20q&view=1up&seq=9 |pages=vii–xxii |last1=Oersted |first1=H. C. |title=The Soul in Nature, with Supplementary Contributions |series=Bohn's scientific library [16] |year=1852 |place=London |publisher=Henry G. Bohn |translator-first1=L. |translator-last1=Horner |translator-first2=J. B. |translator-last2=Horner |oclc=8719272 |hdl=2027/loc.ark:/13960/t4zg7w20q |hdl-access=free}}
*{{cite book |last1=Hansen |first1=H. M. |last2=Rasmussen |first2=S. V. |chapter=Ørsted, Hans Christian, 1777–1851, Fysiker |editor1-last=Bricka |editor1-first=C. F. |editor2-last=Engelstoft |editor2-first=P. |editor3-last=Dahl |editor3-first=S. |title=Dansk biografisk Leksikon |date=1944 |publisher=J. H. Schultz Forlag |location=København |volume=XXVI |pages=575–586 |url=https://slaegtsbibliotek.dk/911678.pdf |language=da |oclc=2697123}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Stauffer |first1=R. C. |title=Speculation and Experiment in the Background of Oersted's Discovery of Electromagnetism |journal=Isis |date=1957 |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=33–50 |doi=10.1086/348537 |jstor=226900|s2cid=120063434 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Dibner |first1=B. |title=Oersted and the Discovery of Electromagnetism |date=1963 |orig-date=1961 |publisher=Blaisdell Publishing |location=New York |edition=2nd |oclc=68158139 |url=https://archive.org/details/oersteddiscovery0000dibn/mode/2up |url-access=registration |ol=5882712M}}
**''Abridged in'' {{cite journal |last1=Dibner |first1=B. |author-mask1=2 |title=Oersted and the Discovery of Electromagnetism |journal=Electrical Engineering |date=May 1961 |volume=80 |issue=5 |pages=321–325 |doi=10.1109/EE.1961.6433241 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015030993862 |issn=0095-9197|hdl-access=free }}
*{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=L. P. |editor1-last=Gillispie |editor1-first=C. C. |title=Dictionary of Scientific Biography |date=1974 |publisher=Charles Scribner’s Sons |location=New York |isbn=978-0-68410-121-7 |volume=X |pages=182–186 |chapter=Oersted, Hans Christian |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofscie0010unse/page/182/mode/2up |chapter-url-access=registration |ol=23035060M |oclc=89822}}
*{{cite book |last1=Franksen |first1=O. I. |title=H. C. Ørsted – A Man of the Two Cultures |date=1981 |publisher=Strandbergs Forlag |location=Birkerød |isbn=978-8-78720-045-5 |oclc=13213277}}
*{{cite web |last1=Norling-Christensen |first1=O. |title=H.C. Ørsted |url=https://biografiskleksikon.lex.dk/H.C._%C3%98rsted |website=Dansk Biografisk Leksikon |publisher=Gyldendal |language=da |date=20 January 2012}}

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |search=("Ørsted, Hans Christian" OR "Hans Christian Ørsted")}}
* Physics Tree: [http://academictree.org/physics/peopleinfo.php?pid=25746 Hans Christian Ørsted Details]
* [https://nationalmaglab.org/education/magnet-academy/history-of-electricity-magnetism/pioneers/hans-christian-orsted Interactive Java Tutorial on Oersted's Compass Experiment] National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
* {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Oersted, Hans Christian |short=x}}

{{Copley Medallists 1801-1850}}

{{Scientists whose names are used as non SI units}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Orsted, Hans Christian}}
[[Category:Discoverers of chemical elements]]
[[Category:Magneticians]]
[[Category:Aluminium]]

{{Sourceattribution|Hans Christian Ørsted}}