Electricity

static electricity is discovered

600 BCE

Thales, a Greek, found that when amber was rubbed with silk, it became electrically charged and attracted objects. He had originally discovered static electricity.

William Gilbert (England) first coined the term electricity

1600

William Gilbert (England) first coined the term electricity from elektron, the Greek word for amber. Gilbert wrote about the electrification of many substances. He was also the first person to use the terms electric force, magnetic pole, and electric attraction.

Otto von Guericke (Germany) described and demonstrated a vacuum, and then invented a machine that produced static electricity.

1660

Stephen Gray (England) distinguished between conductors and nonconductors of electrical charges.

1675

Ben Franklin (United States) tied a key to a kite string during a thunderstorm, and proved that static electricity and lightning were the same thing.

1752

Alessandro Volta (Italy) invented the first electric battery. The term volt is named in his honor.

1800

Sir Humphry Davy (England) invented the first effective lamp. The arc lamp was a piece of carbon that glowed when connected by wires to a battery.

1808

Separate experiments by Hans Christian Oersted (Denmark), Andre-Marie Ampere (France), and Francois Arago (France) confirmed the relationship between electricity and magnetism.

1820

Michael Faraday (England) discovered the principle of electro-magnetic rotation that would later be the key to developing the electric motor.

1821

Georg Ohm (Germany) defined the relationship between power, voltage, current and resistance in Ohms Law.

1826

Joseph Henry (United States) separately discovered the principle of electromagnetic induction but did not publish his work. He also described an electric motor.

1831

Using Faraday's principles, Hippolyte Pixii (France) built the first dynamo

1832

Joseph Henry (United States) invented the electrical relay, which could send electrical currents long distances.

1835

Thomas Davenport (United States) invented the electric motor, an invention that is used in most electrical appliances today.

1837

Sir William Robert Grove (Scotland) developed the first fuel cell, a device that produces electrical energy by combining hydrogen and oxygen.

1839

Samuel Morse (United States) invented the electric telegraph, a machine that could send messages long distances across wires.

1844

Charles Brush (United States) invented the open coil dynamo (or generator) that could produce a steady current of electricity.

1876