Gilbert William Definition

English physician to Queen Elizabeth I who is noted for his studies of electricity and magnetism.

English court physician and physicist whose book De Magnete (1600) was the first comprehensive scientific work published in England. Gilbert demonstrated that the Earth itself is a magnet, with lines of force running between the North and South Poles. He theorized that magnetism and electricity were two types of a single force and was the first to use the words electricity and magnetic pole.