Electricity Timeline

Thales

Jan 1, 600

(600 BC) A greek physisct named Thales discovered electricity when he rubbed a peice of amber with silk cloth. The amber attracted bits of grass, feathers and other light objects. The amber had actually been electrically charged but Thale didn't know that. In 1570 an english doctor named Gilbert did more experiments like Thales and called this phenomenon electricity.

Benjamin Franklin

Jun 2, 1752

January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790 In June 1752, Benjamin Franklin flew a kite in a lightning storm to prove that lightning was electricity. He later invented the lightning rod which was erected on top of buildings to protect them from lightning.

Luigi Galvani

Nov 2, 1786

September 9, 1737 – December 4, 1798 During 1786 Luigi Galvani noticed that a spark moved a dead frog's leg. This made Luigi curious as to why this happened. He guessed that the spark travelled from one metal, through the frog's muscle and then into the other metal. This later proved correct he didn't know this could happen. As the next lightning storm approached he used a brass hook to hold the frog's leg and attached the hook to th e iron railing. When the lightning stiked... Continued

Luigi Galvini Cont.

Nov 2, 1786

... electricity from the lightning jumped onto the iron railing and caused the frog's muscle to move.

Alessandro Volta

Nov 2, 1796

18 February 1745 – Como 5 March 1827 In 1796 Alessandro Volta wondered if he could make electricity rather then observe it. Instead of using a frog's muscle he put different liquids together in a bowl and connected them with metal. He found that when he had saltwater connected with copper and zink metal he could produce a spark. This was very exciting because this lead him to design a chemical cell that became the first battery.

Hans Christan Oersted

Mar 7, 1820

14 August 1777 – 9 March 1851 Hans Christan Orsted discovered that when he placed a wire with a current flowing through near a compass it deflected a needle from pointing magnetic north.

Alexander Graham Bell

Nov 2, 1876

March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922I n the summmer of 1876 Alesander Graham Bell invented the first telephone with a sheet of metal, a coil of wire wapped aroung a magnet, and a battery to create a telephone. This device was able to convert sound into electricity, send it over a kilometer or two and back to sound.

Cyrille Duquet (Cyril Duquet)

Mar 7, 1878

31 March 1841 - December 1922 In 1878 Cyrille Duquet (Cyril Duquet) designed a phone reciver to have both an ear peice and a talking peice such as the ones we use today. This fixed the problem of talking when you should have listened or listening when you should have talked.

Thomas Edison

Mar 7, 1879

February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931 During 1879 Thomas Edison invented the incandescant light bulb. Alothough some theoretical light bulbs were theorized but were not pratical enough to produce. Edison also created a phonograph which could record sounds.

Sir William Samuel Stephenson

Mar 7, 1924

January 23, 1897 – January 31, 1989) In 1924 Sir William Samuel Stephenson of Manitoba patented a system for transmitting photographic images through phone lines.

Donald Lewes Hings

Mar 7, 1937

November 6, 1907 – February 25, 2004 During 1937 Donald Lewes Hings of British Columbia created a portable radio system for his emploeyer CM&S, he called this a "packset" which later was known as a "walkie-talkie". Later Canada declared war on germany and the walkie-talkie had a use. The walkie-talkie was later redevoloped.

Anita Luszszak

Mar 7, 1987

(1972-????) At age 15 Anita Luszszak invented a pulsating generator that used less energy to generate elctricity then conventional generators.

Mark Zuckerberg

Oct 28, 2003

May 14, 1984 - Present On October 28 2003 Harvord Student Mark Zuckerberg Created "Facebook". Facebook is a social networking site that allows user to connect with each other with ease.