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History

In ancient China, the earliest literary reference to magnetism lies in a 4th-century BC book named after its author, Guiguzi. The 2nd-century BC annals, Lüshi Chunqiu, also notes:"The lodestone makes iron approach; some (force) is attracting it." The earliest mention of the attraction of a needle is in a 1st-century work Lunheng (Balanced Inquiries): "A lodestone attracts a needle." The 11th-century Chinese scientist Shen Kuo was the first person to write—in the Dream Pool Essays —of the magnetic needle compass and that it improved the accuracy of navigation by employing the astronomical concept of true north.By the 12th century, the Chinese were known to use the lodestone compass for navigation. They sculpted a directional spoon from lodestone in such a way that the handle of the spoon always pointed south.