William Gilbert

:For other people named William Gilbert, see William Gilbert (disambiguation)

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William Gilbert (or William Gylberde) born May 24, 1544, Colchester, England died of bubonic plague December 10, 1603, London? English physician to Elizabeth I and James I and scientific researcher into magnetism and electricity.

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He named electricity. (please expand...)

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His primary work was De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure (On the Magnet and Magnetic Bodies, and on That Great Magnet the Earth) published in 1600. In this work he describes many of his experiments with his model earth called the terrella. From the experiments, he concluded that the Earth was magnetic and that this was the cause for the compass to point north (previously, it was thought that it was the Polaris or a large magnetic island on the north pole that attracted the compass).

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In his book, he also studied static electricity using amber; amber is called elektron in Greek, so Gilbert decided to call it electricity.

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A unit of magnetomotive force, also known as magnetic potential, is named the gilbert in his honor.

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May 24: May 24 is the 144th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (145th in leap years). There are 221 days remaining....

Colchester: Colchester is an historic town in the north of the English county of Essex, with a population of about 160,000. It is the main town in the borough of Colchester, is one of the towns which claim to be Britain's oldest town (but is the oldest recorded Roman town)....

England: :For an explanation of often confusing terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology)....

William Gilbert related Images and Photos (experimental)

William Tell	William Wirt	William Kent	William Perry
William Lilly	William Smith	Gilbert Arenas	William Devane
William Conrad	William Bendix	Gilbert Roland	William Shatner