Abstract
THE action of magnetism on the propagation of light in a transparent medium has been rightly regarded as one of the most beautiful of Faraday's great scientific discoveries. Like most important discoveries it was no result of accidental observation, but was the outcome of long and patient inquiry. Guided by a conviction that (to quote his own words) “the various forms under which the forces of matter are made manifest have one common origin,” he made many attempts to discover a relation between light and electricity, but for very long with negative results. Still, however, retaining a strong persuasion that his view was correct, and that some such relation must exist, he was undiscouraged, and only proceeded to search for it more strictly and carefully than ever. At last, as he himself says, he “succeeded in magnetising and electrifying a ray of light, and in illuminating a magnetic line of force”
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Magneto–Optic Rotation and its Explanation by a Gyrostatic System. Nature 60, 379–381 (1899). https://doi.org/10.1038/060379a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/060379a0