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.
Computers evolve into PCs, researchers discover one new subatomic particle after another and the space age gives our psyches and science a new context.
1963
Quasars, extremely distant and luminous sources of strong radio waves and other forms of energy, are discovered.
1964
Murray Gell-Mann theorizes that subatomic particles he termed quarks are the fundamental units of matter that make up protons and neutrons. Another American physicist, George Zweig, develops a theory similar to Gell-Mann's, but terms his basic particles aces rather than quarks.
1966
American geophysicists Richard Doell, Allan Cox and Brent Dalrymple chart the irregular schedule of the Earth’s polarity changes based on extensive studies of the magnetic properties of rocks from different periods of time.
Karl Strnat discovers the first generation of rare-earth permanent magnets.
1967
The electroweak theory is developed to unify quantum electrodynamics with the theory of weak interactions (also known as weak nuclear force).
1969
James Powell and Gordon Danby patent the first design for superconducting magnetically levitated trains, becoming pioneers in maglev technology.
The first superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) system, designed to store energy in the magnetic field created by the flow of direct current in a coil of cryogenically cooled superconducting material, is proposed in France, though it is deemed too expensive to build.
1971
Apollo spacecraft survey the magnetic field of the Earth's moon.
1972
Americans Karl Strnat and Alden Ray develop the second generation of rare-earth magnets.
1973
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is first demonstrated in the United States by Paul Lauterbar. The concepts that made MRI possible were discovered a few years earlier by Raymond Damadian.
1974
Greek physicist John Iliopoulos presents, for the first time in a single report, the view of physics now called the Standard Model, a theory which describes the strong, weak and electromagnetic fundamental forces as well as the fundamental particles that make up all matter.
1977
Apple comes out with the Apple II computer, the first popular personal computer using microprocessors. The improved Apple II Plus follows in 1979.
1979
The magnetic satellite known as Magsat is launched as a joint venture of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey to undertake the first precision mapping of the near-Earth magnetic fields.
