Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Discoveries of magnetic fields in 26 white dwarfs since 1970 do not negate the basic inference from the work of Babcock - that most of the over 1000 known white dwarfs do not have strong magnetic fields. The origin of the strong fields in the minority remains an unsolved problem, although evidence is growing that the magnetic degenerates are more massive than the average white dwarf. This paper is one of a series of invited reviews celebrating the centenary of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, see also 004.165.
James Liebert (Tue,) studied this question.