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Dec 8, 1570
William Gilbert
About 2500 years ago, a Greek named Thales rubbed a piece of amber onto a cloth. The amber then started attracted small objects such as feathers and grass. In 1570, an English doctor named Gilbert, did many more experiments like Thales and named this charge electricity. -
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin decided that electricity was like a "fluid", it passed through other bodies. Franklin also discovered that there were negative and positive charges. He said, "fire only circulates. Hence have arisen some new items among us. We say B (and other Bodies alike circumstanced) are electricised positively; A negatively; Or rather B is electricised plus and A minus ... These terms we may use till philosophers give us better." -
Benjamin Franklin
In 1753 Benjamin Franklin was curious of thunder/lightning storms. With a key and a kite, Benjamin flew the kite into the storm, the wateron the string conducted the electricity to the key which was at the end of the string. This experiment led to the discovery of the lightning rod which conducts electricity. -
Alessandro Volta
Alessandro Volta discovered the electrophorus in 1774. It is a device that produces static electricity. The electricity is caused through the process of induction. -
Alessandro Volta
In 1779 Volta was promoted to professor of physics in the University of Pavia. This was where he invented his greatest invention: the voltaic pile. It is constructed out of discs of zinc and copper, with pieces of cardboard soaked in brine. The cardboard was in between the metal which caused an electrical current. Volta's invention was the first battery that produced a steady stream of electricity. -
Luigi Galvani
In the 1790s, Galvani found out the electrical nerve impulses in our bodies by making an experiment with frogs. He used an electrostatic machine to make frog muscles twitch. To this day, Galvani's discovery has proven electricity is used in our bodies. Galvani found theconnection between living organisms and electricity. -
Hans Christian Oersted
In 1820, Oersted discovered electromagnetism. His experiment comprised of a wire with an electric current. Whenever he put a compass needle close to the wire, the needle would move. -
Alexander Graham Bell
Bell was a Canadian who inveted the first telephone. Bell used a thin sheet of metal, a coil of wire around a magnet, and a bettery to create thetelephone. These materials, created sounds into electricity. This way, people can communicate thousands of kilmetres away. -
Thomas Edison
In 1879, Edison made the electricity powered lightbulb. He used lower current electricity, a carbonized filament and an improved vacuum. These elements were placed inside the lightbulb. He did not invent the lightbulb but improve a 50-year old idea of it. -
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla invented the first fluorescent light bulb. The lightbulb using electricity which sparks up mercury atoms. The atoms get excited and emit a visible light. It is more energy efficient than normal lightbulbs. Nikola Tesla worked with Thomas Edison to create this invention as he was the former inventor of the lightbulb. -
Sir William Stephenson
In 1924, Stephenson, of Manitoba, invented the first wireless photograph transmission system. His invention later became the first television. He was more recognized as a soldier of World War 2. -
Edward Samuel Rogers
In 1927, Rogers, from Ontario, made the first radio that could be plugged into an electricity socket. He was obsessed with the radio when he was young. Normal radios had to use acid-filled batteries, causing the radios to leak occasionally. Rogers' radio could be plugged in a was more quiet than the battery-powered radios. He solved this problem with an amplifying tube, which made this radio louder than previous models. -
Donald L. Hings
In 1942, Hings, of British Columbia, invented the walkie-talkie. He was very skilled with electronic communication. This invention was ignored until 1939 when there was World War 2. This was a valuable object as soldiers could communicate over large distances. -
Alan Turing
Turing invented the first electric computer. This was used to crack German codes that they used in World War 2. That computer named Colossus, was smashed to bits at the end of the war. -
Anita Luszszak
Luszszak from Alberta, made a pulsing electricity power generator at the age of 15. It used less energy to create electricity than other generators. The student won a gold medal at an international competition for inventors.
