Hans Christian Ørsted was born in Rudkøbing, a small town in Denmark. His father was a pharmacist, which may have contributed to his interest in science. With his brother, he was mostly educated at home before going to university in Copenhagen, where he studied physics and philosophy, gaining a PhD in 1799 for his dissertation on the German philosopher Immanuel Kant.
Ørsted’s interest in electricity was aroused when, in 1800, Alessandro Volta reported his invention of the voltaic pile battery (At a glance, PHYSICS REVIEW Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 16–17). In 1801 a travel scholarship enabled him to visit European centres of science, including Paris and Berlin. He met other scientists who were interested in electricity and magnetism, and thought they were connected but had not yet observed any linking phenomena.
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