Electricity

Greeks discovered static electricity around 600 BC and wrote about it.  In 1600 AD, English scientist William Gilbert wrote a book about static electricity. This spurred interest in electricity. In 1752, Benjamin Franklin confirmed his suspicion that electricity from lightening produced a current by attaching a metal rod to a kite to attract a lightning strike that was transferred to a medal key.

In 1800, Italian scientists Volta and Galvani developed an electric current between metal plates.

http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=4026

In 1820, English physicist and chemist Michael Faraday 1791-1867, experimented to discover chemicals, chemical processes and metallurgy. He discovered carbon, chlorine, ethylene, benzene, metal alloys and electromagnetics.

In 1820, Hans Christian Orsted discovered that electric current produced a magnetic field around the wire. Faraday confirmed this and built the first electric motor that turned electrical energy into mechanical energy. Faraday continued to develop the electric motor using magnets rotating from a crank and wrapped in copper wire. A windmill can produce the rotation.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michael-Faraday/Theory-of-electrochemistry

James Maxwell 1831-1879, Scottish physicist continued experiments with electricity and electromagnetics, proved his theories and established equations used to propagate radio signals and explain the electromagnetic forces that control earth’s gravitational field.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Clerk-Maxwell

Georg Ohm 1789-1854, German physicist expanded on Volta’s work with electric current and experimented to measure current in amps, voltage in watts and resistance in ohms and established Olm’s Law, E=IR and the beginnings of electronic circuit development.in 1827.

Thomas Edison 1847-1931, began work on the telephone in 1886, invented the phonograph in 1877, the lightbulb in 1879 and DC power generation in 1882. Edison sold Edison Electric in 1884 to become Consolidated Edison, electric power company.  Edison formed Edison General Electric in 1890 and with mergers it became General Electric.  He established the first motion picture studio in 1893. He invented the devices needed to produce the first talking movies in 1913.

Nikola Tesla 1856-1943, arrived in the US in 1884, worked with Edison and left to form Tesla Electric in 1885 and pursue AC power generation and sold his AC patent to Westinghouse Electric that became the standard for generating electricity.  His invention of the Tesla Coil enabled the development of wireless technology. His other inventions allowed for the development of remote control, x-rays and radar.

Karl Braun 1850-1918 German physicist invented the cathode ray tube in 1897 to display images on a phosphorous screens later used in radar, oscilloscopes and TV screens.

John Fleming 1849-1945 English physicist invented the vacuum tube in 1904 used to amplify and direct current through an electronic circuit.

Bell Labs physicists, John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley developed the transistor in 1947 allowing these to replace the cathode ray tube.

Texas Instruments engineers developed the hand-held transistor radio in 1954, the integrated circuit in 1958 and the hand-held calculator in 1990. Silicon-based electronic components like microprocessors enabled the development of the Personal Computers, Modems and digital signal processing in the 1970s.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader