The historical figure is Hans Christian Ørsted, a Danish physicist and chemist who discovered the connection between electricity and magnetism in 1820. The spelling of his name varies depending on the language and the use of the unique character "Ø." People often write it as 'Oersted' or 'Oerstedt' in English. In contrast, in Danish and other Scandinavian languages, it is written as "Ørsted" or "Ørstedt." The illustration shows his famous experiment, where he observed a compass needle deflected by an electric current flowing through a wire.