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Martin Klaproth
In 1789 Martin Klaproth, a German chemist, discovered Uranium and named it after the planet Uranus. -
Photovoltaic energy
The history of photovoltaic energy (aka. solar cells) began in 1876. William Grylls Adams and a student, Richard Day, experimented and found that Selenium, when exposed to light, could produce electricity. This is what started the solar panel movement. -
Windmill
Wind power throughout North America started to help farmers and ranchers bring up water for irrigation and windmills create electricity for homes and businesses. -
Wind Power showcased
In 1893 the Chicago World’s Fair showcases 15 windmill companies and their wind turbine designs. -
Wilhelm Roentgen
In 1895 Wilhelm Roentgen discovered ionising radiation by creating an electric current though evacuated glass tube and producing repeated X-Rays. -
Radioactivity
In 1896 Pierre and Marie Curie give radioactivity as the name for this phenomenom. -
Bureau of Reclamation Established
Bureau of Reclamation began to get involved in hydropower production by providing water resource mangment to the arido of the western parts of the United States. -
Ernest Rutherford
In 1902 Ernest Rutherford demonstrated that radioactivity as a spontaneous event emitting an alpha or beta particle from the nucleus formed a different element. -
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Build Hydroelectric Plants
In 1920s the US ARmy Corps get authorization from congress to construct hydroelectric plants. Today the corporates operate with 75 power plants. -
Dexter Cooper
In 1920, a man named Dexter Cooper, created the idea of producing power from tides, a plan that he planed to implement in Cobscook and Passamaquoddy bays. Early funding was robust, the stock market crash of 1929 speedily put an end to work. -
Hoover Dam
In 1936 one of the most famous famous hydroelectric projects in history, the Hoover dam, is completed on the border of Nevada and Arizona. It was built on the colorado river for three diferent reasons: providing irgigation water, keeping floods at bay, and creating power. -
New Deal
After the boost from the New Deal, hydropower accounted for an entire 40% of electricity in the United States. A little more than tripiling its capacity 20 years earlier. -
Neils Bohr
In 1940 Neils Bohr advances our knowledge of the atom and how electrons were positioned around the nucleus -
Silicon discovery
In 1953, Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller, and Daryl Chapin found the silicon solar cell. This cell could actually create enough electricity and was efficent enough to run minature devices. The New York Times commented that this was "the beggining of a new era, leading eventually to the realization of harnessing the almost limitless energy of the sun for the uses of civilization." -
Solar Panel's first
In the year of 1956 solar panels, for the first time, become commercialy avaliable. They started at $300 for a 1 watt solar cell. 1956 also showed first solar cells used in toys and radios. -
Reexamination of Dexter plan
In 1961, the project was again examined by an international cooperative between the United States and Canada. The cost investigation showed that the project would only welfare the United States and so the project was again sidelined. -
Canada reexamination of study again
In 1977, Canada undertook yet another study of the bay, but once more they decided that the project was not prosperous for them, though it was decided cost effective. -
Large Wind Farms
The first large wind farms are implemented in California. Which resulted in many important lessons being learned, such as stronger awareness of environmental affects and proper siting--where wind turbines are installed--which caused development of lower impact designs. -
Hydropower Research Foundation Created
National Hydropower Association created the Hydropower Research Foundation to maintain research and promote clean, cost-effective hydropower
