The National MagLab is funded by the National Science Foundation and the State of Florida.
These demonstrations about laws and tools associated with electricity and magnetism allow you to adjust variables at and to visualize invisible forces — which makes them almost better than the real thing.
Seeing is believing. In these animations, we show you what electricity and magnetism might look like if they weren't invisible.
Learn about electricity and magnetism — and have some fun while you're at it!
How do Maglev trains work? What are comets made of? How do bugs walk on water? This section demonstrates these and other concepts related to magnetism, electricity and other areas of science.
Whether you prefer your science short & sweet or long & detailed, we spell it out for you here in easy-to-understand language.
Read fun science stories told in comic strip style.
There is beauty and art in science. Gaze on these stories of discoveries that could be featured on museum walls instead of scientific journals.
Explore these surprising, unconventional and sometimes downright strange stories about high magnetic field research.
These special science graphics explain science stories in digestible steps and include optional detours for readers wanting more background to customize your reading journey.
Get to know these pioneers who went down in history for their groundbreaking work, including scientists behind common terms such as Amp, Celsius, Kelvin, hertz and tesla.
From the world's first compass to the magnetic force microscope and beyond, explore a variety of instruments, tools and machines throughout history.
Our timeline takes you through the highlights of electricity and magnetism and across the centuries.
Take a field trip to these high magnetic field landmarks around the globe.
New tools such as special microscopes and the cyclotron take research to higher levels, while average citizens enjoy novel amenities such as the FM radio.
1930
The first permanent alloy magnets of aluminum, nickel and cobalt (alnico magnets) are produced.
1931
British physicist Alan Wilson applies the band-gap theory of energy to account for the behavior of superconductors and insulators.
The first cyclotron, a circular particle accelerator in which subatomic particles are accelerated by an alternating high-frequency electric field in a fixed magnetic field, is built.
German physicist Ernst Ruska, while still a student in Berlin, constructs the first electron lens, using an electromagnet to focus a beam of electrons just as a lens focuses a beam of light. By 1933, he uses several electron lenses in a series to make the first electron microscope with better definition than a light microscope.
1932
James Chadwick of England discovers the neutron, a particle with mass similar to a proton, but that does not have an electrical charge.
American physicist Carl Anderson discovers the positron, a particle with mass similar to an electron, but with a positive rather than negative charge.
1933
Walther Meissner and Robert Oschenfeld of Germany discover that as a material loses its resistance to electricity when its temperature is dropped below a certain temperature, the magnetic field inside the material is completely or partly expelled. Characteristic of all superconductors, this phenomenon came to be commonly known as the Meissner effect or the Meissner-Oschenfeld effect.
Sodium vapor lamps come into use to light highways.
1934
German inventor Semi Joseph Begun constructs the first magnetic tape recorder used for broadcasting.
The fluorescent lamp is introduced in Europe.
In the United States, the coiled-coil filament is invented, resulting in brighter and more energy-efficient electric light bulbs.
1935
Magnetic tape for audio recording becomes available commercially in Germany following its introduction at the Berlin Radio Exhibition.
1936
French physicist Louis Néel develops the concept of antiferromagnetism, a temperature-dependent form of magnetism in which adjacent ions arrange themselves in antiparallel formations so that nearly no overall external magnetism can be detected.
1939
Walter Elsasser, a German-born American physicist, proposes that the Earth’s observable magnetic field is the result of rotation-related eddy currents in the liquid core of the planet.
