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Ben Franklin tied a key onto a kite string during a storm, proving that static electricity and lightning were the same. This understanding paved the way for the future.
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The first electric battery was invented by Alessandro Volta. The word, “volt” is named in his honor.
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The first electric motor was invented by Michael Faraday.
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Thomas Davenport created the electric motor that is in most appliances we all use today.
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Samuel Morse invented the electric telegraph, a machine that could send messages long distances across wire.
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After many experiments, Thomas Edison invented an incandescent light bulb that could be used for about 40 hours without burning out. By 1880 his bulbs could be used for 1200 hours.
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Boulder (Hoover) Dam was completed. A 287 Kilovolt power line stretched 266 miles to Boulder (Hoover) Dam. The Rural Electrification Act was also created.
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Transistor invented by scientists at Bell Telephone Laboratiories.
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The world’s first nuclear power plant in Russia started generating electricity. First high voltage direct current (HVDC) line (20 megawatts/1900 Kilovolts, 96 Km). The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 came out, which allows private ownership of nuclear reactors.
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Shippingport Reactor in Pennsylvania was the first nuclear power plant to provide electricity to customers in the U.S.
