The ancient Greeks and Chinese discovered that certain rare stones, called lodestones, were naturally magnetized. These stones could attract small pieces of iron in a magical way, and were found to always point in the same direction when allowed to swing freely, suspended by a piece of string, or floating on water. Early navigators used these magnets for the first compass to help them determine their direction while at sea.
The name MAGNET comes from Magnesia, a district in Thessaly, Greece where it is believed that the first lodestone was mined.
Over the years magnets have evolved into the high strength materials we have today. It was discovered that by creating alloys of various materials we could create similar effects to those found in the lodestone rocks, and increase the level of magnetism. It was not until the 18th century that the first man-made magnets began to be created, and progress in creating stronger magnetic alloys was very slow until the 1920s when Alnico magnet (an alloy of nickel, aluminum and cobalt) was formulated. Ferrites were created in the 1950s and the Rare Earths in the 1970s. Since then, the science of magnetism has exploded exponentially and extremely powerful magnetic materials have made possible miniature and powerful devices.

Tags: magnet History