electromagnetism
Magnetism produced by electricity is called electromagnetism . Today, electromagnetism is used in many electric devices. However, until electromagnetism was discovered, scientists thought that electricity and magnetism were unrelated. A Danish scientist named Hans Christian Oersted pictured in the Figure below changed all that. He made the important discovery that electric current creates a magnetic field. But like many other important discoveries in science, Oersteds discovery was just a lucky accident.