Hans Christian Orsted: Reading Nature's Mind

Hans Christian Orsted (1777-1851) is of great importance as a scientist and philosopher far beyond the borders of Denmark and his own time. At the centre of an international network of scholars, he was instrumental in founding the world picture of modern physics. Orsted was the physicist who brought Kant's metaphysics to fruition. In 1820 his discovery of electro-magnetism, a phenomenon that could not possibly exist according to his adversaries, changed the course of research in physics. It inspired Michael Faraday's experiments and discovery of the adverse effect, magneto-electric induction. The two physical phenomena were later described in mathematical equations by J.C. Maxwell. Together these discoveries constitute the prerequisites for the overwhelming development of modern technology. But Orsted was also one of the cultural leaders and organizers of the Danish Golden Age (together with Grundtvig, Kierkegaard, and Hans-Christian Andersen, his protege), and made significant contributions to aesthetics, philosophy, pedagogy, politics, and religion. Orsted remarkably bridged the gap between science, the humanities, and the arts.

About the Author :
Dan Charly Christensen worked as Lecturer and Reader within the Department of History at Roskilde University (1972-2010), Denmark. His two volume biography, Naturlens Tankelaeser. En Biografi om Hans Christian Orsted (Museum Tusculanum, Copenhagen 2009), was nominated for Weekendavisen's annual literary prize, and awarded the H.O. Lange Literary Prize by the Royal Library and Gad's Foundation.

Review :
"Best known for his epoch-making discovery of electromagnetism in 1820, the versatile Danish physicist H. C. �rsted was also a cultural icon and an eminent representative of the Kantian-Romantic movement in the early nineteenth century. Only with Christensen's impressively rich and detailed biography are readers presented with a full picture of �rsted and his time, in which his scientific work is placed in its proper social and cultural context. Combining meticulous scholarship with readability, Christensen's book is a magnificent contribution to the history of science and culture that for decades will remain the authoritative biography of �rsted." -- Helge Kragh, Aarhus University "Few people know more about Hans Christian �rsted than his "accidental" discovery of electromagnetism in 1820. Dan Ch. Christensen's definitive biography of �rsted, now available in English, will change this. Christensen documents the intellectual and philosophical preparations that led to �rsted's 1820 discovery and his response to the acclaim that followed. While this book is a "must read" for historians of science, its vivid descriptions of intellectual life in the early 1800s will be equally fascinating to lay readers. Read it and enjoy it!" -- Andrew D. Jackson, Professor of Theoretical Physics, The Niels Bohr Institute "Dan Christensen has given us a very rich and detailed biography that will be valuable to those interested in the relationship between philosophical positions and experimental science, in Romantic and dynamical science, scientific education and popularisation in what was becoming the Age of Science, international communication and acquaintance during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras and their aftermath, the distinct national traditions in Germany, France and Britain, and the possibility of scientific careers -- as well as in Scandinavian history. The book will also be extremely useful for anyone engaged upon comparative studies, and especially for those interested in peripheral places far from centres like Paris, London, Jena or Berlin, where would be scientists faced isolation and incomprehension but might become big fish in their small pond." --Metascience