Magnetism has enabled the development and exploitation of fundamental science, ranging from quantum mechanics, to probing condensed matter chemistry and physics, to materials science. The control of magnetism has resulted in the availability of low‐cost electricity and the use of electric motors, leading to the development of telecommunications devices (microphones, televisions, telephones, etc.), and to magnetic storage for computers. Magnets, due to their myriad properties, are suitable components in sensors and actuators, and hence they must be considered the key components in smart materials and systems of the future.
Magnetic materials known from time immemorial are comprised of either transition or rare‐earth metals, or their ions with spins residing in d‐ or f‐orbitals, respectively, such as Fe, CrO
2
, SmCo
5
, Co
17
Sm
2
, and Nd
2
Fe
14
B. These materials are prepared by high‐temperature metallurgical methods, and generally, they are brittle. In the late twentieth century many metal and ceramic materials were replaced with lightweight polymeric materials. The polymeric materials were designated primarily for structural materials, but examples also abound for electrically conducting and optical materials. More recently, new examples of magnetic materials have been reported. Undoubtedly, in this millennium there will be commercialization of these organic and polymeric magnets.