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By flying a kite with a key on the tail during a storm, Benjamin Franklin, who was in an insulated room, discovered that lightning is electricity.
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After a summer of drilling 6 days a week, Edwin Drake and his crew struck oil 70 ft below ground in Titusville
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thomas Edison was granted a patent for the electric lightbulb on this day. Contrary to popular belief, Edison did not invent the lightbulb, but modified the existing lightbulb to make it efficient and successful.
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The first electric power station goes into operation in lower Manhattan. It generates electricity for 1 square mile of the area.
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The Vulcan Street Plant in Wisconsin opened on this date. It provided power for 3 buildings.
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On this date, George Westinghouse received a patent for his AC generator. Westinghouse would try to popularize the AC current, but Edison's DC current was more popular at the time. Today, however, we use AC current, which is safer and easier to use.
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On this date, Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicated the Hoover Dam. It generates electricity for areas in multiple states.
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On this date Chicago Pile-1 was activated on the University of Chicago racket courts. this was the first self-sustaining nuclear reactor, and would lead eventually to nuclear power.
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On this date, the Shippingport Nuclear Power Plant was opened by Dwight Eisenhower
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On this date, the first offshore wind farm in the US was approved. It hasn't been built, but it's planned in Massachusetts.
