Magnetometer Carl Friedrich Gauss, head of the Geomagnetic Observatory in Göttingen, published a paper on measurement of the Earth's magnetic field. It described a new instrument that consisted of a permanent bar magnet suspended horizontally from a gold fibre. The difference in the oscillations when the bar was magnetised and when it was demagnetised allowed Gauss to calculate an absolute value for the strength of the Earth's magnetic field. The gauss, the CGS unit of magnetic flux density was named in his honour, defined as one maxwell per square centimeter; it equals 1×10 tesla (the SI unit). Francis Ronalds and Charles
Weber (unit) TC1 dealt with the study of various outstanding problems concerning electrical and magnetic quantities and units. Discussions of a theoretical nature were opened at which eminent electrical engineers and physicists considered whether magnetic field strength and magnetic flux density were in fact quantities of the same nature. As disagreement continued, the IEC decided on an effort to remedy the situation. It instructed a task force to study the question in readiness for the next meeting. In 1930, TC1 decided that the magnetic field strength (H) is of a different nature from the magnetic flux density (B), and took up the