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Period: to
Timespan of Electricity
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Thales of Miletus: Static Amber
Thales of Miletus (from 636-546 B.C.), was the very first known greek physician and scientist. He was very intelligent but since none of his work survived, all people can tell from are legends. One day, he found out that when he rubbed an amber with a piece of fabirc, it could attract feathers and other light objects. He was unsure why this occured but now we know this happens because of static electricity. -
Benjamin Franklin: Lighning Rods
Franklin's previous experiment also made Franklin invent the lightning rod. Franklin had found that a pointed rod was a better conductor than a ball. The rod was attached to a wire which ws attached to the ground. The rod then attracted lightning away from other objects around it and directed the electricity into the ground. -
Benjamin Franklin: Kites and Lights!!!
Benjamin Franklin, a scientist and inventor, had always speculated that lightning is caused by electricity and he even had an experiment to prove it. In 1752, on a stormy day, Franklin put a stiff, sturdy wire on top of a kite and at the end of the kite, a metal key. The rain made the kite which helped the kite conduct the lightning better. Then a lightning bolt hit the kite and sparks flew out of the key. This then proved that lightning is just a gigantic spark of electricity. -
Luigi Galvani: Muscle Moving Energy
Luigi Galvani, an Italian scientist, discovered electricity. He discovered it when he attached a brass hook to a frog's leg and to an iron rail. When lightning struck the iron rail, the frog's leg moved! He hypothesized that the electricity traveled through the metal, and in the end this was correct. He published his observations and they helped lead to many more discoveries. -
2. Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta : Voltaic Pile (Electric Battery)
,Volta then began experiments that led him to hypothesize that animals were not necessary for creation of electricity. His experiments were to use different liquids in place of animals and attaching them to copper and zinc. The proof of his theory was the battery, which Volta invented in 1800. The unit of electric potential, the volt, is named in after him. -
1. Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta:Voltaic Pile (Electric Battery)
Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta, an Italian physicist, was the creator of the worlds first electric battery but to create this it took 25 years of studying and planning.In 1775, he invented the electrophorus, a device that once electrically charged by rubbing, could transfer charge to different objects. Then, between 1776 and 1778, Volta discovered and contained methane gas. When Luigi Galvani's experiments with "frog/animal electricity" were published in 1791, -
Hans Christian Oersted: Electromagnetism?
Hans Christian Oersted was the person wo discovered something known as electromagnetic induction/electromagnetism in 1820 while giving a lecture at Copenhagen University. He was giving an experiment demonstration about heating a wire by an electric current and to do this he used a compass needle to help the current. Suddenly, during the presentation, the needle moved
whenever it was turned on. He kept this to himself and in the end, he couldn't figure out why this occured, so he published -
Hans Christian Oersted : Electromagnetism? cont.
so he published his findings with no conclusion. -
Andre Marie Ampere
In the same year the Oersted stumbled upon electromagnetism, Andre Marie Ampere of Paris found out that parallel (straight) currents attract and anti-parallel currents repel. It was found out with the help of Oersted's findings. -
James Clerk Maxwell: Electromagnetsim!
In 1860, James Clerk Maxwell, a Scottish physicist and mathematician, was the person to understand electric fields. He found that the space that has the presence of magnetic field lines, we call it a "magnetic field": if a bar magnet is placed there, it will experience magnetic forces, but the field is still there even when there is no magnet. So basically, an "electric field" is the space in which electric forces may be sensed. -
Alexander Graham Bell: Telephone
In the summer of 1876, an amazing invention was made by Alexander Graham Bell. Alexander Bell was a Scottish American scientist whom had created the first ever telephone. It was created with a metal sheet, a wire wrapped around a magnet and a battery. This "machine" could turn sound in to electricity and vice versa. -
Cyril Duquet : Ear +Voice Phone
Back then in the good ole' days (1878) when people had just started using telephones, there was just one problem. The telephone only had on speaker that you could both listen and speak with, but since you could do both, it was complicated and you might have talked when you should have listened and listened when you should have talked. Then a very smart person, Cyril Duquet, invented the phone that had both ear and mouth speakers/microphones. These are just like the ones we have today. -
Nikola Tesla: The Tesla Coil
The Tesla Coil is a large electricity current producing resonant transformer (a coil, that with another coil just like it, can create a wireless electrical energy transmission). It was cretaed in 1891 by Nikola Tesla, it can create high voltage and high frequency (speed of electricity created) electricity. It is usually used nowadays for educational experiments, educational demonstrations, and music. -
Nikola Tesla: Creation of the Radio
In 1892, Tesla had created his very first prototype for a radio, its was very simple and basic. Then in 1896, the very first patent of the radio was accepted. After that, on November 8 1898 at the Madison Square Garden, Tesla created a radio controlled robot-boat. It was controlled with an antenna and it moved when Tesla transmitted radio waves from the control post. This was front pgae news since it was the first anyone had seen anything like it. -
Reginald A. Fessenden: Radio Signals through Phones
In 1900, the very first wireless voice message was sent by the Quebec inventor, Reginald A. Fessenden. His message went 2 km and was sent by turning his voice into a radio signal and sending it. 6 years later, in 1906, they created a new way to let signals travel farther, it was by using satellites. The only thing needed? Electricity. -
Sir William Stephenson: Newspaper Pictures from your Phone
In 1924, Sir William Stephenson of Manitoba had created a way to send pictures for the newspaper from your phone lines. This was very helpful for reporters. -
Edward Samuel Rogers: Radio -> Wall Outlet
In 1927, Edward Samuel Rogers, had created the first radio that could be plugged into a wall outlet. Not only that Rogers was the founder of Rogers Communications. -
Donald Lewes Hings: Walkie-Talkie
In 1942, British Columbian, Donald Lewes Hings, invented the portable transceiver (better know as the Walkie-Talkie). 18,000 Walkie-Talkies were sold for the war to allow soilders to communicate easily. -
Hugh Le Caine: Voltage Controlled Synthesizer
In 1945, Hugh Le Caine (from Ottawa) had invented the world's first voltage controlled touch-sensitive synthesizer. Not only did he created the world's frst synthesizer, he also helped techno music more popular. He had also joined the National Research Council Canada (NRC) in Ottawa where he helped make important contributions to nuclear science and the development of radar during WW II. -
Richard Keefer: Garbage Battery
This 17-year-old teenage inventor, Richard Keefer, made an invention that was very unique. Keefer had created a battery that ran on garbage! This battery lasted longer than store batteries and it costed the same amount! -
Anik 1: Communication through Space
In 1972, the first geostationary communications satellite was launched, it was called Anik 1. This satellite allowed radio waves to be transferred from one place to another in space and on Earth. -
Anita Luszszak: Better Generator
In 1987, young 15-year-old Anita Luszszak, had created something quite useful. It was a generator, but not any generator, a generator that required less energy to make the generator generate electricity. This invention won her a 1st place medal in an international inventor competition. -
Pierre Couture and Ballard Power Systems: Electric Cars
In the year 1998, electric cars were a hot topic and getting many inventors enthusiastic. One Quebec inventor, Pierre Couture, is making a car that has 4 electric motors on each wheel. Ballard Power Systems of British Columbia is making a fuel cell that can power the electic cars of the future.
