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Discoveries of the 19th century

By ainabresoli
  • Connection between electricity and magnetism. (Hans Christian Ørsted)

    Connection between electricity and magnetism. (Hans Christian Ørsted)

    What Hans Christian Ørsted did was hold a compass near a wire carrying an electric current. When the compass was close to the wire, the compass no needle pointed north. He concluded that an electric current produces a magnetic field.
  • Earliest electromagnetic telegraph.

    Earliest electromagnetic telegraph.

  • The sewing machine. (Elias Howe)

    The sewing machine. (Elias Howe)

    During the early 1800s, much of the population did not have the income to purchase clothes. Therefore, everything was sewn by hand and families had to sew clothes using a thread and needle. Elias Howe changed all this when he invented the sewing machine as we know it, which he patented in 1846.
  • Elisha Otis developed the first elevator safety brakes in 1852, installing them in an elevator in 1853.

    Elisha Otis developed the first elevator safety brakes in 1852, installing them in an elevator in 1853.

  • The first electric typewriter. (Thomas Edison)

    The first electric typewriter. (Thomas Edison)

  • First sentence through his simple phone. (Alexander Graham Bell)

    First sentence through his simple phone. (Alexander Graham Bell)

    A telephone is a system that converts a voice into an electric impulse of varying frequency and then back to its original form. Michael Faraday was the first person to contribute to the idea of a telephone when he proved that metal vibrations could be converted into electric impulses. He didn’t put his concept into practice.
  • Coca-Cola. (Dr. John Pemberton)

    Coca-Cola. (Dr. John Pemberton)

    The history of Coca-Cola dates back to 1886 when Dr. John Pemberton modified his tonic headache and stimulant formula, creating Pemberton’s French Wine Coca.
  • First automobile powered by gasoline. (Wilhelm Maybach and Gottlieb Daimler)

    First automobile powered by gasoline. (Wilhelm Maybach and Gottlieb Daimler)

  • Discovery of radioactivity. (Henry Becquerel)

    Discovery of radioactivity. (Henry Becquerel)

    In 1896, the French scientist Henry Becquerel was using naturally fluorescent minerals to study the properties of x-rays. He exposed potassium uranyl sulfate to sunlight and then placed it on photographic plates wrapped in black paper, believing that the uranium absorbed the sun’s energy and then emitted it as x-rays.
    To his surprise, the images were strong and clear, proving that the uranium emitted radiation without an external source of energy such as the sun.
  • Discovery of the electron. (J. J. Thompson)

    Discovery of the electron. (J. J. Thompson)

    Thomson realized that the accepted model of an atom did not account for negatively or positively charged particles. Therefore, he proposed a model of the atom which he likened to plum pudding. The negative electrons represented the raisins in the pudding and the dough contained the positive charge. Thomson's model of the atom did explain some of the electrical properties of the atom due to the electrons, but failed to recognize the positive charges in the atom as particles.