History thumb|Lorentz's theory of electrons. Formulas for the Lorentz force (I, ponderomotive force) and the Maxwell equations for the divergence of the electrical field E (II) and the magnetic field B (III), La théorie electromagnétique de Maxwell et son application aux corps mouvants, 1892, p. 451. V is the velocity of light. Early attempts to quantitatively describe the electromagnetic force were made in the mid-18th century. It was proposed that the force on magnetic poles, by Johann Tobias Mayer and others in 1760, and electrically charged objects, by Henry Cavendish in 1762, obeyed an inverse-square law. However, in both cases the experimental proof was neither complete nor conclusive. It was not until 1784 when Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, using a torsion balance, was able to definitively show through experiment that this was true. Soon after the discovery in 1820 by Hans Christian Ørsted that a magnetic needle is acted on by a voltaic current, André-Marie Ampère that same year was able to devise through experimentation the formula for the angular dependence of the force between two current elements. In all these descriptions, the force was always described in terms of the properties of the matter involved and the distances between two masses or charges rather than in terms of electric and magnetic fields.
History thumb|Lorentz's theory of electrons Formulas for the Lorentz force (I ponderomotive force) and the Maxwell equations for the divergence of the electrical field E (II) and the magnetic field B (III) La théorie electromagnétique de Maxwell et son application aux corps mouvants 1892 p 451 V is the velocity of light Early attempts to quantitatively describe the electromagnetic force were made in the mid-18th century It was proposed that the force on magnetic poles by Johann Tobias Mayer and others in 1760 and electrically charged objects by Henry Cavendish in 1762 obeyed an inverse-square law However in both cases the experimental proof was neither complete nor conclusive It was not until 1784 when Charles-Augustin de Coulomb using a torsion balance was able to definitively show through experiment that this was true Soon after the discovery in 1820 by Hans Christian Ørsted that a magnetic needle is acted on by a voltaic current André-Marie Ampère that same year was able to devise through experimentation the formula for the angular dependence of the force between two current elements In all these descriptions the force was always described in terms of the properties of the matter involved and the distances between two masses or charges rather than in terms of electric and magnetic fields