-
Pieter van Musschenbroek, a physicist and
mathematician in the Netherlands, invents what is
later called the Leyden jar – the first device that
could store electricity for future use. English
physician William Watson improves on the invention,
coating the inside and outside of a glass bottle with
tinfoil to improve its capacity to store a charge. -
Believing lightning is a flow of electricity taking place
in nature, Benjamin Franklin tests his
theory, fastening an iron spike to a
silk kite and holding the end of the kite
string by an iron key during a
thunderstorm. Lightning flashes, and
a tiny spark jumps from the key to
Franklin’s wrist -
Building on Galvani’s work, Italian physics professor
Allesandro Volta shows that when moisture comes
between two different metals, electricity is created.
This leads him to develop the first battery – thin
sheets of copper and zinc separated by paper
soaked in acid. Volta shows electricity can flow
steadily—like a current of water—instead of
discharging itself in a single lightning bolt or spark.
He later invents the electric condenser. -
English physicist Michael Faraday succeeds in
building the first electric motor. He discovers
when a magnet is moved within a coil of copper
wire a small electric current flows through the
wire. American Joseph Henry also discovers this
principle the same year. -
Generators with electromagnets in the field are
first constructe -
Edison and English physicist Joseph Swan both
apply for patents for carbon-filament
incandescent lamps. Litigation between the two
men is resolved by formation of a joint company
in 1883. -
Frank Sprague demonstrates the first practical
electric motor for use in locomotives. In 1887,
he inaugurates a small electric railway in St.
Joseph, Missouri, and builds the Union
Passenger Railway in Richmond, Virginia – the
first large electric railway system ever
attempted. -
Nikola Tesla, a Serbian electrical engineer
who had immigrated to the United States
and was working with Edison, introduces the
alternating current generator, allowing
electricity to be distributed longer distances
than the two miles possible with direct
current generators. Everyone but Edison
agrees AC is superior to DC. Even Edison’s
own company – Edison Electric Company,
now called General Electric – eventually
switches to AC. All electric motors today run
on principles set out by Tesla. -
Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi harnesses
electric waves in the air to produce the first
practical radio signaling system. -
A nuclear reactor built at
Arco, Idaho, powers a
generator, producing the
first electricity generated by
atomic energy.
