Who is the inventor of electricity?

The Truth About the Invention of Electricity

When the question "Who invented electricity?" is asked, we need to clarify that electricity was not invented, but rather discovered. It is a form of energy that humans took a long time to recognize as existing in nature. The real story of the discovery of electricity is a complex one, beginning around 600 BC. It wasn't just one person who discovered electricity; rather, many great minds contributed to our current understanding of electricity and the many comforts it provides today.

Contributors to the Discovery of Electricity

Thales of Miletus

The first discovery of electricity dates back to the 5th century BC in Ancient Greece, when people noticed that amber could attract light objects when rubbed with wool. This phenomenon intrigued researchers and scientists until the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus, one of the Seven Sages of Greece, became the first to study electricity. He conducted experiments by rubbing amber with fur and observed that the amber could attract feathers, dust, and other light materials. He named the substance "elektron," meaning electricity in Greek. This was the first recorded experiment with static electricity.

William Gilbert and Scientists Post-1600 AD

The history of electricity is closely linked to the English physician and physicist William Gilbert, who worked as the personal doctor to Queen Elizabeth I. Before Gilbert's time, the only known properties of electricity were related to the magnetic properties of lodestone or magnetite, and that rubbing amber would cause some materials to stick to it. Gilbert introduced the concept of electricity in his writings and experiments, which he documented in Latin. He coined the term "electricus," the Latin equivalent of "amber," to describe the forces that appear when materials rub together. The word "electricity" appeared years later in the works of Thomas Browne, an English author who studied Gilbert's research.

Other notable scientists who contributed to the development of electricity during this period include:

• Otto von Guericke (1660): Invented a machine to generate static electricity.
• Francis Hauksbee: Improved the static electricity generator.
• Robert Boyle: Discovered repulsive forces alongside attractive forces, showing that electricity can travel in a vacuum.
• Stephen Gray: Conducted experiments proving the existence of materials that conduct electricity and others that do not.
• Charles du Fay: Distinguished between two types of electricity, leading to the concepts of positive and negative charges, which were later defined by Benjamin Franklin and Ebenezer Kinnersley.
• Pieter van Musschenbroek (1745): Invented the Leyden jar, a device for storing and accumulating static electricity.
• William Watson: Managed to discharge static electricity from the Leyden jar.
• Henry Cavendish: Studied the conductivity of materials.
• Charles de Coulomb: Discovered the law governing the forces of attraction between charged particles.

Benjamin Franklin and Pre-Thomas Edison Scientists

Benjamin Franklin, an American scientist, was instrumental in developing the concept of positive and negative electricity. He showed that electrically charged objects either attract or repel each other, leading to the division of electric charges into positive and negative categories. In 1752, Franklin famously flew a kite during a thunderstorm with a key attached to it, demonstrating that lightning was a form of electricity. This sparked further interest in electric currents, and in 1786, Luigi Galvani noticed that the legs of a frog moved due to the discharge of static electricity, wrongly assuming the frog's legs generated electricity. Alessandro Volta disagreed with this, inventing the first battery that generated a steady electrical current, proving that electrical current is generated chemically.

Other scientists who built on Volta’s discoveries during this period include:

• Humphry Davy (1802): Created the first electric light by connecting voltaic piles to carbon electrodes, known as the electric arc lamp.
• Georg Ohm: Developed the relationship between voltage, current, and resistance, known today as Ohm's Law.
• James Prescott Joule: Discovered the law of electrical heating.
• Gustav Kirchhoff: Created the basic laws of current and voltage in electrical circuits.

Thomas Edison and the Invention of the Incandescent Lightbulb

In 1819, Hans Christian Ørsted discovered that a magnetic field is created around a wire when an electric current passes through it. This finding helped André-Marie Ampère develop many electromagnetic laws in 1873. François Arago invented the electric magnet, and Michael Faraday became the first person to successfully pass an electric current through wires, paving the way for electromagnetism technologies. Faraday's work was crucial in the development of generators, and Hippolyte Pixii used his principles to create a hand-powered electric generator.

By 1878, Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan invented the incandescent lightbulb. Both established a joint company for the production of the first lightbulbs, and in September 1882, they illuminated the first electric streetlights in New York City.

Edison’s invention of the electric lightbulb, coupled with low-cost, high-quality illumination, laid the foundation for the electric power industry and the construction of power plants. Nikola Tesla used alternating current (AC) to transport electricity over long distances, making AC the most commonly used form of electricity worldwide. In 1883, George Westinghouse commercially applied alternating current in his company, and by 1883, the Niagara Falls hydroelectric station was established, generating cost-effective and efficient electricity.

Later, in the late 19th century, Swedish engineer Gustaf de Laval invented a steam engine that converted thermal energy from compressed steam into rotational motion. This development greatly contributed to technological progress. British engineer Charles Parsons invented the first turbine generator in 1884, capable of producing 7.5 kilowatts of electricity with relatively low efficiency. However, he improved the design and, by 1900, had created the first one-megawatt power station. Turbines powered by steam continued to produce most of the world’s electricity.

This historical timeline highlights the key figures and innovations that have shaped the discovery and application of electricity as we know it today.