-
Thales of Miletus, a Greek philosopher, records
that when he polishes amber with a piece of
wool or fur, a static electric charge is created,
attracting straw or feathers. -
-
German physicist and engineer Otto von Guericke
builds the first machine to generate an electric
spark. His generator consists of a sulfur globe
mounted on an iron shaft. The globe could be
turned with one hand and rubbed with the other to
produce static electricity. -
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. -
Scotsman James Watt invents the steam
condensing engine, which proves crucial to
large-scale generation of electricity. The
principles of the steam engine developed by
Watt are used to turn the generators that
produce electricity. -
English chemist Sir Humphry Davy discovers the
electric arc – a luminous flame of
electricity that seems to leap across
space without benefit of a conductor. In
reality, the gases in the air serve as the
conductor. -
Alexander Graham Bell patents the
telephone, which transmits speech over
electric wires -
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.
