Alberto P. Guimaräes

From Lodestone to Supermagnets Understanding Magnetic Phenomena

WILEY- VCH WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA Table of Contents

Preface XI

1. A Stone with a Soul 1 Magnetism — The First Records 1 Thales and the Beginnings of Greek Science 4 Plato and Aristotle 13 Magnetism in Greece 16 Chinese Records an Magnetism 18 Magnets in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica 22 Roman Sources 23

2. The Finger of God 27 Introduction 27 Arab and Chinese Sources 28 Magnetism and the Compass in Europe 31 Magnetic Epistle from the Trenches 34 Wonderful ist the Lodestone 39 Gilbert and the Scientific Revolution 5o

3. The Unification: Electricity and Magnetism Electric Shock 59 The Electric Battery 65 The Unity of Nature 70 The Little Hans Christian and the Great Hans Christian 72 Magnetism and Electric Currents 76 Animal Magnetism 84

VII From Lodestone to Supermagnets. Alberto P. Guimaräes Copyright © 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim ISBN: 3-527.40557-7 4. "Acting where it is not": Magnetism and Action at a Distance 87 Magnetic Attraction 87 Subtle Matter: the Ether 91 The Apple and the Moon. 94 Lines of Force Fill Space 99 The Triumph of the Fields 99

5. The Secrets of Matter iii Discrete Matter in `The Real Facts of Nature' 113 The Quantum World 117 Minute Magnets 128 Can We Explain Magnetism? 134

6. Magnets Large and Small 139 Introduction 139 The Great Magnet 140 Living Magnets 146 Magnetic Resonance: Dancing Spins 148

7. Supermagnets 155 Introduction 155 Materials and the Conquest of Nature 156 Box: Magnetic Characterization of Materials 162 The Development of Magnetic Materials: the End of the Cookbook Days 164 Supermagnets 17o Cool Magnets 172 Magnetic Recording: Magnets that Remember 173 Conclusions 181

Timeline 183 Glossary 189 References 195 Index 217

VM Table of Contents