In French, the word for “magnet,” aimant, also means “loving.” Love makes an apt metaphor for the attraction of magnetic opposites. Two bar magnets will cling together when their opposite poles are put in proximity but repel one another if like ends meet. As in the case of human allure, magnetic attraction may fade with time. In fact, although scientists of the late nineteenth century divided magnetic materials into “permanent” and “temporary” categories, they conceded that “permanent magnetism” was probably as elusive as everlasting love.
