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Ancient Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus described static electricity by rubbing fur on substances such as amber. 1600: English scientist William Gilbert coined the word electricus after careful experiments. He also explained the magnetism of Earth. 1660: German scientist Otto von Guericke invented a device that creates static electricity ...
The invention builds on acetylene lamps from the 1890s. 1901 Peter Cooper Hewitt creates the first commercial mercury-vapor lamp. 1904 Alexander Just and Franjo Hanaman invent the tungsten filament for incandescent lightbulbs. 1910 Georges Claude demonstrates neon lighting at the Paris Motor Show. 1912 Charles P. Steinmetz invents the metal ...
The timeline of historic inventions is a chronological list of particularly significant technological inventions and their inventors, where known. [ a ] The dates in this article make frequent use of the units mya and kya , which refer to millions and thousands of years ago, respectively.
The invention of the industrial generator in 1866 by Werner von Siemens – which did not need external magnetic power – made a large series of other inventions possible. In 1873, James Clerk Maxwell published a unified treatment of electricity and magnetism in A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism which stimulated several theorists to ...
The electric field was formally defined as the force exerted per unit charge, but the concept of potential allows for a more useful and equivalent definition: the electric field is the local gradient of the electric potential. Usually expressed in volts per metre, the vector direction of the field is the line of greatest slope of potential, and ...
His invention of the voltaic cell leads to the invention the electric battery. 1791 – Luigi Galvani discovers galvanic electricity and bioelectricity through experiments following an observation that touching exposed muscles in frogs' legs with a scalpel which had been close to a static electrical machine caused them to jump. He called this ...
On this day in economic and business history... On Oct. 21, 1987, a mere two days after suffering the worst crash in its history, the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a then-record gain of 186. ...
Streetcars created enormous demand for early electricity. This Siemens Tram from 1884 required 500 V direct current, which was typical. Much of early electricity was direct current, which could not easily be increased or decreased in voltage either for long-distance transmission or for sharing a common line to be used with multiple types of electric devices.