10 Key Historical Energy Events

First Steam Engine Invented

May 1, 1698

Thomas Savery was an English military engineer and inventor who in 1698, patented the first crude steam engine.

First Automobile

Mar 1, 1769

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built the first self propelled road vehicle (military tractor) for the French army: three wheeled, 2.5 mph. There is no exact date.

First Battery

Feb 1, 1800

Volta invented the first true battery, which came to be known as the voltaic pile. There is no exact date.

Water Pumping Windmill

Jan 1, 1854

Daniel Halladay manudactured this invention in Connecticut.

1st Lightbulb

Oct 21, 1879

This was when Thomas Eddison created the first lightbulb.

AC Power

Apr 1, 1888

Galileo Ferraris makes public his AC polyphase motor first conceived in 1885. His motor works without a commutator.

Nuclear Fission is Discovered

Sep 13, 1896

Henri Becquerel was investigating phosphorescent minerals, those which after exposure to light would glow in the dark.

First Geothermal Electric Power Plant.

May 1, 1904

Piero Ginori Conti invents the first geothermal electric power plant.

Hoover Dam

Feb 4, 1935

It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

First Modern Silicon Solar Cell

Feb 4, 1954

Bell Labs announces the invention of the first modern silicon solar cell.