THE NATURAL PHILOSOPHY OF

WILLIAM GILBERT

AND HIS PREDECESSORS

Until several decades ago, the physical sciences were considered to have had their origins in the 17th century—mechanics beginning with men like Galileo Galilei and magnetism with men like the Elizabethan physician and scientist William Gilbert.
Historians of science, however, have traced many of the 17th century's concepts of mechanics back into the Middle Ages. Here, Gilbert's explanation of the loadstone and its powers is compared with explanations to be found in the Middle Ages and earlier.
From this comparison it appears that Gilbert can best be understood by considering him not so much a herald of the new science as a modifier of the old.
The Author: W. James King is curator of electricity, Museum of History and Technology, in the Smithsonian Institution's United States National Museum.