Page "Magnetism" Paragraph 5

Alexander Neckham, by 1187, was the first in Europe to describe the compass and its use for navigation.

In 1269, Peter Peregrinus de Maricourt wrote the Epistola de magnete, the first extant treatise describing the properties of magnets.

In 1282, the properties of magnets and the dry compass were discussed by Al-Ashraf, a Yemeni physicist, astronomer, and geographer.