In college, Hans was given the oppertunity to explore the ideas of philosophy. He was especially intrigued by natural philosophy and pursued a career as such for a short while. Oersted took a course that was very focused on Kant's point of veiw and ideas. In 1799 he wrote his doctoral dissertation expressing his beliefs of the Kantian philosophy. After gearing many lectures by different natural philosophs, Oersted began developing his own ideas and insights. After he made a fool of himself in Paris by supporting an illogical philosophy, Hans Christian tried to find evidence for all philosophies that he came across. In 1804, he went back to Denmark to get a professorship in physics. He did not get one because the warden at the University of Copenhagen did not nominate him. So he started to lecture publicly. Everyone thought that he was doing such a good job that they gave him the professorship. "Basically, what Oersted thought Kant was saying was that science was not merely the dis-covery of Nature; that is, the scientist did not just record empirical facts and sum them up in mathmatical formulas. Rather, the human mind imposed patterns upon perceptions; and the patterns were scientific laws."* This is how Oersted applied philosophy to science. *L. Pearce Williams
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