In 1820, the Copley Medal was adjudicated to M. Oersted of Copenhagen,
“when,” says Dr. Whewell, “the philosopher announced that the
conducting-wire of a voltaic circuit acts upon a magnetic needle; and
thus recalled into activity that endeavour to connect magnetism with
electricity which, though apparently on many accounts so hopeful, had
hitherto been attended with no success. Oersted found that the needle
has a tendency to place itself at _right angles_ to the wire; a kind of
action altogether different from any which had been suspected.”