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Lightning Rod was Invented
Benjamin Franklin invented the Franklin rod as part of his explorations of electricity. The picture shown is a diagram of a modern lighning rod. It is not known for sure the exact date of invention. -
Coal Gas Oven
Fredrick Albert Winsor patents the oven for the manuractue of coal gas. He is credited with one of the first succesful attemps at coal gassification. -
Coal Advancement and Acceptance
Baltimore, Maryland becomes the first city in the US to use gas powered lamps in the city with the help of Peale's Gas Light Company of Baltimore. The streetlights were enacted into use over the course of the year. -
Internal Combustion Engine
Samuel Brown invents and patents an internal combustion engine with separate combustion and working cylinders and uses it to power a vehicle. -
Electrical Relay
Joseph Henry invents the electrical relay, which enables an electrical current to travel long distances from it started. It was invented to improve his version of the telegraph. The exact date of invention is unknown. -
Lightbulb
The first modern lightbulb was patented by Thomas Alva Edison. -
First Sucessful Car
First Succesfully mass produced car is the Model T, by Henry Ford.It can run on gas or ethanol. -
Wind Turbine on the grid
The first succesful wind turbine feeds power to the electric grid on this date. The Smith-Putnam Wind Turbine was opertated by Palmer Putnam, an MIT-trained geologist who had no education in wind power. It operated for 1100 hours before a blade snapped at a weak point. -
First Nuclear Power Plant in the US
The first nuclear power plant opens on this date. It was located on the Ohio River, PA. It was opened by president Dwight D Eisenhower. -
US Deparment of Energy Formed
This cabinet level deparment handles policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material. Its predecessors were the FEA and the ERDA. -
Aquatic Species Program
The Aquatic Species program is initiated by the US department of Energy to research the use of Algae for biofuel, more specifically, biodiesel. This has lead to succesful attempts to harvest specialized algae for fuel and more technology as to how these types of algae can be best grown and used for this purpose. It was disbanded in 1996, and a compilation report was released in 1998.
