Why do we study magnetism?

First of all, magnetism as it exists within the field of electromagnetism is effectively a dead field. It's been solved basically. There are problems, like in plasma physics, where this may not be as true, but that really isn't about magnetism. read more

If you’re a pragmatist you might say it is interesting for its applications like mag-lev trains and understanding superconducting phases, but if you are more like Bertrand Russell, it is worth studying because we don’t know the truth of the matter; that is, knowing the truth is the higher calling for when we ask why we should understand. read more

We certainly need magnets for an amazing number of applications and to produce the power that sustains our civilization. But we can’t let up on the quest to continually discover new magnetic materials with better properties and more environmentally sustainable constituents. read more

Magnets are incredibly important, particularly due to the relationship between electricity and magnetism, discovered by Faraday. All the data stored on your computer hard drive, or on your phone, is stored by magnetising tiny magnetic domains on the disc. read more