"The story of magnetism begins with a mineral called magnetite (Fe3O4), known to attract iron as early as 2500 years ago. Later, it was found that a properly shaped piece of magnetite floating on water would turn until it pointed approximately north and south. The first truly scientific study of magnetism was On the Magnet, published in 1600 by William Gilbert. The first electromagnet was made in 1825, following the discovery made in 1820 that an electric current produces a magnetic field. Research on magnetic materials can be said to date from the invention of the electromagnet, which made available much more powerful fields than those produced by lodestones, or magnets made from them"--
STANLEY TROUT, PhD, spent the last twenty-eight years in the permanent magnet and rare earth industries, successfully solving problems in a wide variety of technical and commercial roles, collaborating with many international luminaries in the process. Early in 2001, he launched a consultancy called Spontaneous Materials ((www.spontaneousmaterials.com) devoted to finding practical solutions to client problems with magnetic materials and the rare earths, in a technical, commercial and educational capacity. He is a senior member of the IEEE Magnetics Society.
B.D. CULLITY, PhD, was a group leader for the Manhattan Project in WWII, and then became Professor of Metallurgical Engineering at Notre Dame University. He is best known for two widely-used textbooks, Elements of X-Ray Diffraction (revised in 2001 by G. Stock) and Introduction to Magnetic Materials. The books are notable for the clarity with which complicated topics are explained. His major research interests were in the use of x-ray diffraction to measure lattice strains, and in magnetostrictive phenomena.
C.D. GRAHAM, PhD, worked at the General Electric Research Laboratory for fifteen years before moving in 1969 to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published work on magnetic domain structure, anisotropy, thin films, permanent magnets, amorphous alloys, and magnetic measurements, plus several book chapters and three encyclopedia articles.
