Electricity timeline

By squeakermcb
  • 1570

    Start

    William Gilbert (1540-1603) demonstrates attractive and repulsive force from rubbing many substances together (electrostatic charge); calls them "electrics," and suggests the earth itself is a magnet.

  • Electricity

    Wilhelm Weber (1804-1891) and Karl Friedrich Gauss (177-1851) successfully operate a telegraph between two distant buildings. They devise the first system of consistent units for electrical measurement. Gauss organizes a European network of observers to record strength and direction of the geomagnetic field.

  • Circits

    Charles Proteus Steinmetz (1865-1923) contributes mathematical analysis of more complex nature of AC circuits.