Oersted's and Ampère's discoveries

THE names of Oersted and Ampère always recall to my mind the names of several other great men of science who with Oersted and Ampère form a group of intellectual giants. Their pioneer discoveries produced the science of physics and engineering of today. The names of the members of this immortal group are: Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Oersted, Ampère, Faraday and Maxwell. Their discoveries follow each other in evolutionary sequence during an interval of over four centuries, and each one of these discoveries is a link in the chain of evolution of our physical concepts concerning the most fundamental physical phenomena, the phenomena of motion of matter and of electricity. I trust, therefore, that I will be pardoned when on this occasion, the Centennial Celebration of Oersted's and Ampère's discoveries, I indulge in a brief review of the discoveries of the other great scientists who with Oersted and Ampère share in the glory of creating the modern science of dynamics, including electrodynamics.