In the 13th century, Peter Peregrinus, a native of Maricourt in Picardy, conducted experiments on magnetism and wrote the first extant treatise describing the properties of magnets and pivoting compass needles. In 1282, the properties of magnets and the dry compasses were discussed by Al-Ashraf Umar II, a Yemeni scholar. The dry compass was invented around 1300 by Italian inventor Flavio Gioja.