The Lodestone, the Compass and the Magnetic Earth

The Complete History of Science

In this episode we trace the early development of magnetism and the compass—from ancient Chinese navigation to the groundbreaking insights of medieval and Renaissance Europe. The episode highlights the work of Peter Peregrinus, a 13th-century scholar whose detailed experiments with magnets laid the foundation for future magnetic science, and Robert Norman, who devised a method to reveal the mysterious “dip” of the magnetic needle. It also explores early efforts to understand magnetic declination, map its behavior, and investigate the nature of Earth’s magnetic forces. From the legends surrounding the compass’s invention to the precision of William Gilbert’s De Magnete, this episode examines how magnetism evolved from a mystical force into a measurable, mappable phenomenon—marking a crucial step on the path to modern science.

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Music Credit: Folk Round Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Chapters

1. The origins of magnetism (00:00:00)

2. Evolution of the compass (00:03:13)

3. Peter Peregrinus and the compass in Europe (00:07:12)

4. New ocean voyages (00:12:44)

5. Robert Norman (00:13:25)

6. William Gilbert (00:20:34)