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Ben Franklin ties a key onto a kite string during a storm, proving that static electricity and lightning are the same.
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Sir William Robert Grove developed the first fuel cell, a device that produces electrical energy by combining hydrogen and oxygen.
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Thomas Edison invents the first incandescent bulb that can burn for 40 hours. By 1880, they could burn for 1200 hours.
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The first commercial hydro plant in the United States begins operation in Appleton, Wisconsin. The plant uses a waterwheel to drive DC generators to produce 25 kilowatts.
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Steam turbine generator, capable of generating huge amounts of electricity, was invented by Sir Charles Algernon Parsons.
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In Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. scientist and businessman Charles Brush builds the first wind turbine to generate electricity. It is 17 meters tall and has 144 cedar blades, and has an electrical capacity of 12 kilowatts.
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Vegetable oil is used as a diesel fuel when German inventor Rudolf Diesel demonstrates that a diesel engine can run on peanut oil.
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Italian scientist Piero Ginori Conti invents the first geothermal electric power plant.
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Photoelectric cells are discovered
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In Russia, the world’s first nuclear power plant started generating electricity.
