Energy

10 Historical Energy Events

By hiallayah

  • Benjamin Franklin flies his kite

    Benjamin Franklin flies his kite
    Benjamin went outside with his son in a lightning storm because he hypothesized that lightning was electricity. He flew a kite with a key attached to it and noticed the strings on the kite 'sticking up' so he touched the key and felt the shock of electricity!

  • First Electric Motor

    First Electric Motor
    Michael Farady was well known for his discoveries in electromagnetic induction. He invented the first electric motor

  • First natural gas well dug

    First natural gas well dug
    William Hart dug the first natural gas well in 1821 in Fredonia, NY. This well was 27 meters deep and was named after him. The french were noticing that the Native Americans were igniting flame off the ground because natural gas was seeping into it. Later, the Fredonia Gas Light Company opened, becoming the first American natural gas company.

  • First power lines

    First power lines
    Joseph Henry designed the first power line to sent electrical currents over a long distance. Telegraph poles were built to help do this.

  • Thomas Edison & the lightbulb

    Thomas Edison & the lightbulb
    Thomas Edison perfected his lightbulb and demonstrated it to the public on December 31, 1879. It was an incandescent lightbulb and it took him 1,000 faulty bulbs to finally create the perfect one.

  • First windmill for energy was created

    First windmill for energy was created
    James Blyth invented the worlds first windmill used to produce energy. This windmill was horizontal instead of the modern vertical design and it spanned 33 feet in diameter.

  • Niagra Falls Hydropower station

    Niagra Falls Hydropower station
    The original plan for the station was to just produce power for the surrounding area but in 1996 they added power lines so they could produce energy for places as far as 20 miles away.

  • Solar energy cell invented

    Solar energy cell invented
    Russel Ohl is famous for his original patent on the solar energy cell. This allowed and continues to allow us to harvest energy naturally from the sun.

  • First nuclear plant in US

    First nuclear plant in US
    On May 26th, 1958 the first commercial nuclear plant was opened by the president at the time, Dwight Eisenhower. This was opened as a part of his Atoms of Peace program

  • First Windmill Farm

    First Windmill Farm
    The first windmill farm was built in southern New Hampshire. It consisted of 20 30-kW wind turbines