Ancient Greek, Thales, discovers static electricity
400 BCE
Greek philosopher, Democritus, developed the concept of an atom
Benjamin Franklin uses his famous experiment with his kite and lightning to prove that static electricity and lightning are the same
Electromagnetism is discovered
Michael Faraday introduces electrolysis, a way of using electricity to separate compounds
James Maxwell discovered light is an electromagnetic wave
Maxwell - Created the electromagnetic theory - light is made of electromagnetic waves, made equations to support his theory
Joseph Swan + Thomas Edison invent the lightbulb
Crookes - Studied electrical activity and cathode rays, leading him to believe in the existence of negatively charged particles, inspiring others to study these rays more in depth
George Stoney first suggested the name electron for units of electricity
JJ Thomson experiments and confirms the existence of these electrons
Thomson - experimented with cathode rays to discover and prove the existence of small, negatively-charged particles, electrons - established particle level of electricity
Millikan - in an oil-drop experiment, he found out how to determine the magnitude of negative charge in electrons
Bohr - Created an atomic model where electrons orbit the nucleus
deBroglie - Proposed that electrons travel like a wave and not a simple circular path
Schrodinger - After hearing the theory that electrons travelled in waves, he proposed a wave equation to calculate the energy levels of electrons. Discovered the electron cloud.
Tim Lee combined electronic networks to create the Internet