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Francis Hauksbee invents the neon light
Francis Hauksbee put mercury (the metal) into a glass sphere, pumping out the air, and then spinning it. He did this in the dark, and rubbed his hands on it, and it glowed. He didn't know he had, but he made a neon light. (Picture is not how the first neon lights looked, they are just neon lights in general) -
Benjamin Franklin proves that lightning is electricity
Benjamin Franklin was an American who was very interested in electricity. He proved that lightning was electricity by picking a stormy day and tying a key to a kite and flying it. Sparks jumped from the key. He proved that lightning was electricity. He then invented the lightning rod. -
Luigi Galvani creates muscle spasms in a frog using electricity
Luigi Galvani was an Italian scientist and medical doctor. While he was examining a dead frog, he observed that a spark could make a frog's leg twitch when two different metals were touching the frog's leg. He wondered why this occured. He wondered if he could recreate the occurance under different conditions. His hypothesis was that the spark went from one metal, through the frog's leg, to the other metal. correct, however he didn't know how this could happen. -
Alessandro Volta invents the battery
Volta pondered the thought of producing electricity instead of observing it. Rather than using a the muscle of a frog, he used other liquids. He poured the liquid into bowls then connected them by metal. When he used salt water and connected them with zinc and metal, a spark could be made! -
Sir Humphry Davy discovers electrolysis
He discovered that some substances would decompose when he passed an electric current through them. His experiment led to the discovery of numerous elements such as magnesium, calcium, strontium and barium. -
Humphrey Davy makes the first lightbulb
Many think it was Thomas Edison who made the first lightbulb (see Thomas Edison point for details) but it was actually Humphrey Davy. He created a lightbulb by creating a very bright electric spark between two charcoal rods. It was too bright to be used in most cases. -
Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone
Alexander Graham Bell was an Ontario inventor. He used a thin sheet of metal, a coil of wire wrapped around a magnet, and a battery to create a telephone. It worked by converting sound into electricity then back into sound. The first words that were spoken with a telephone were "To be or not to be." Those words were part of a line from William Shakespear's play 'Hamlet'. -
Cyril Duquet designs a phone reciever to have both an earpiece and a voice piece
Cyril Duquet was an inventor from Quebec. He invented a phone with a ear piece and a voice piece like the phones today. He did this because the user of the phone used to have to move the reciever between their mouth and their ear, which was confusing. Sometimes people talked when the needed to listen, and vise versa. -
Thomas Edison invented the first lightbulb - OR NOT!
People have thought that Thomas Edison had invented the first lightbulb, but he was actually the only one who made a light bulb company (General Electric). He made a perfect electric lightbulb. There were many inventors trying to perfect the lightbulb. Edison hired many to help him with the project. -
Edward Samuels Rogers made the first all electric radio
Edward Samuels Rogers created the first radio that didn't use batteries. Instead, it could be plugged into a wall outlet. This is better because it does not need to be recharged, and it produces clearer sound. They are powered by A/C tubes. He also founded a radio station; CFRB which stands for Canada’s First Rogers Batteryless. -
Donald L. Hings invents the walkie talkie
The first walkie talkie was invented in 1937, but wasn't commonly used until the war in 1939 when they were found to be useful as millitary technology. Many lives were saved because of the walkie talkie. This is related to electricity because it uses batteries which are electricity. -
William Gilbert invented the term 'electricity'
He got the term 'electricity' from the greek word 'elektra' which means amber. He was also the first person to realize that electricity and magnetism are related. He published a book called "Da Magnete" which means On The Magnet
