The History of Electricity

  • 200

    Thales 600 BCE

    Thales 600 BCE
    The mathematician Thales in Greece discovered that amber rubbed with animal fur attracted objects.
  • 300

    Huang Ti 300 BCE

    Huang Ti 300 BCE
    Huang Ti was said to be the first to use a lodestone as a compass.
  • Jan 1, 1550

    Girolamo Cardan

    Girolamo Cardan
    He evolved on the experiments of Thales and concluded that amber attracted small objects because of a fatty fluid they contained.
  • Jan 1, 1573

    Willam Gilbert

    Willam Gilbert
    Found that like amber, many other substances attracted light objects.
  • Otto Von Guericke

    Otto Von Guericke
    Invented the first machine that could produce electricity in large amounts.
  • Ben Franklin

    Ben Franklin
    He discovered that electrical fluid consists of positve and negative charges,
  • Ben Franklin

    Ben Franklin
    Proved that lightning is electrical.
  • Period: to

    Andre Ampere

    His experiments on electric currents. His work made it possible for us to be able to measure the amount of electricity in a current.
  • Period: to

    Michael Faraday

    His work with electricity and magnetisim led to the inventions of the motor, generator, transformer, telegraph, and the telephone.
  • Luigi Galvani

    Luigi Galvani
    Placed a dead frog on an iron plate and then touched the plate with a brass hook. When the hook hit the plate hit frogs leg twitched violently and reasoned that there is electricity in the frogs leg.
  • Alessandro Volta

    Alessandro Volta
    He disagreed with his college Galvani, concluding that there was salt water in the frogs leg. This led him to invent the first battery.
  • Charles de Coulomb

    Charles de Coulomb
    First to measure the amount of elecricity in a circuit.
  • Georg Simon Ohm

    Georg Simon Ohm
    Discovered the relationship between resistance, voltage and current.
  • Thomas Edison

    Thomas Edison
    He invented the first practical lightbulb.
  • Nikola Tesla

    Nikola Tesla
    Invented the induction motor, and a system that transmitted alternating current.