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Discovery of Electricity
Most people believe that electricity was discovered by Benjamin Franklin in 1752 with his kite experiment, but there are many controversies. Some say that he only discovered the connection between lightning and electricity, but we can't really pin down exactly who discovered it other than Franklin. -
Conventional Current vs Real Current
During his experiments in 1752, Benjamin established that the flow of electrons was from the positive to the negative terminal. However, he was wrong. But this still remained a concept named "Conventional Current", which was kept in Physics exercises. The "real" current/electron flow is from the negative to the positive terminal. -
Coulomb's inverse-square Law
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, a French physicist from the 18th century, first developed and published the Coulomb inverse-square law in 1785. His findings were essential for the further development and study of electricity throughout the whole world. His formula is still used nowadays. -
Electrical Circuit
The first electrical circuit created was discovered circa 1800 by Alessandro Volta, which produced a steady flow of electricity using bowls of salt solution connected by metal strips. -
Discovery of magnetic fields in current
The physicist Hans Oersted learned in an experiment in 1820 that when current flowed through a wire, it would move the needle of compasses placed beside it. This showed the existence of magnetic fields and their relationship to electric currents. -
Ohm's laws
Georg Simon Ohm was a German mathematician and physicist from the 18th and 19th centuries. He discovered the laws named after him in 1827. It can be expressed mathematically by V/I = R, where V is voltage, I is current, and R is resistance. -
Electric Field concept
Michael Faraday was a British physicist and chemist who studied mainly electrochemistry and electromagnetism. In 1831 he was able to show that a changing magnetic field can induce/create a current, therefore grasping the concept of Electric fields. -
Earth's magnetic field
The Earth's magnetic field was first measured by Carl Friedrich Gauss in 1832, but many claim that William Gilbert was the one to first discover it in the 16th century. -
Kirchhoff's laws
Gustav Kirchhoff, a German physicist, discovered the so-called Kirchhoff's laws in 1845, while still a student.
The first one states that "in an electric network the algebraic sum of the currents in all the branches that meet at any point is zero" and the second one states that "the algebraic sum of potential differences, including voltage supplied by the voltage sources and resistive elements, in any loop must be equal to zero." -
Right and left hand rule
The British electrical engineer and physicist called John Ambrose Fleming founded the left and right-hand thumb rules in the late 19th century. We do not know for sure when exactly it was discovered. -
Components of Electrical circuit
There are certain components inside an electrical circuit that are necessary for it to function properly. This includes an energy source, a conductor (wire), a device/electrical load, and a switch/controller. It is unclear when this was discovered/invented, however, we do know it was in the last 100 years.