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In the late 1600s a man named Otto von Guericke of Germany is
credited with doing some of the first experiments with what we now know is static
electricity. Guericke created a machine that could produce static electricity which would
enable scientists to experiment with this new found electricity. He also noticed the attribute
of electromagnetism. -
In 1729 Stephen Gray discovered the conductive properties of electricity. With
experiments using static electricity, he found that certain materials such as silk did not
conduct electricity. His contribution was important because for the first time electricity was
seen as a fluid element that could travel or be hampered from travelling. Some of his work
is related to insulation and insulators that would protect future scientists from being injured. -
In 1752 Franklin presented the
idea that electricity had positive and negative elements and that the flow was from positive
to negative. He also, through his most famous experiment with a kite, proved that lightning
was a form of electricity. -
In 1800 Alessandro Volta developed the first electric battery. Of course we know it wasn't
really the first but this is the way history views it. He invented the Voltaic pile by placing
dissimilar metals copper and zinc or silver and zinc together separated by brine soaked
cloth. This cell created electric current. The theory was called contact tension. -
In 1831 Michael Faraday discovered magnetic induction. The work Faraday did in his
experiments is probably among the most important and led to many advances in the
understanding and use of electricity. His work led to the creation of the generator enabling
us to make electricity. If there is a father of electric I think Michael Faraday is it. -
In 1879 Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb. This again is one of those cases
where he wasn't the first to discover that electricity could create light, but using what others
found, he invented the best way to accomplish it. Edison found that by using a carbon
filament in a glass globe devoid of oxygen, he could make a continuous light. An amazing
invention that would change the world. -
1881 - Louis Latimer gets a patent for the first light bulb with a carbon filament
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1888 - Heinrich Hertz discovers electric waves and how to measure them
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1896 Henry Ford built his first automobile, the quadricycle, to run
on pure ethanol. -
in 1941, Russell Ohl invented the solar cell, shortly after the invention of the transistor.
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1949 Almost one-third of the electricity in the U.S. came from
hydropower
