If you asked most people who discovered electricity they would answer Benjamin Franklin. On the surface this is partially correct and I certainly wouldn’t want to take anything away from Mr. Franklin, for he was truly brilliant. That said, the fact is, evidence has been uncovered that shows there were batteries over 2000 years ago. A clay pot sits in the Baghdad museum that was discovered in 1936. This pot contained copper plate and tin alloy and had an iron rod sealed with asphalt. The iron showed signs of acidic corrosion. By filling this pot with an acidic solution such as vinegar, an electric current could be produced. What it was used for is not known although some speculation would include some form of medicinal value though no one knows for sure. In any event it was forgotten by humankind for well over 1000 years.
Until the 1600s, there was no real experimentation with electricity. Up to this point static electricity was played with and it could be produced but nobody really knew what it was or understood it. By rubbing amber, even as early as ancient Greece, it could be made to attract fibers or dust. In the late 1600s a man named Otto von Guericke of Germany is credited with doing some of the first experiments with what we now know is static electricity. Guericke created a machine that could produce static electricity which would enable scientists to experiment with this new found electricity. He also noticed the attribute of electromagnetism.
In 1729 Stephen Gray discovered the conductive properties of electricity. With experiments using static electricity, he found that certain materials such as silk did not conduct electricity. His contribution was important because for the first time electricity was seen as a fluid element that could travel or be hampered from travelling. Some of his work is related to insulation and insulators that would protect future scientists from being injured. This is where we fit Benjamin Franklin into the picture. In 1752 Franklin presented the idea that electricity had positive and negative elements and that the flow was from positive to negative. He also, through his most famous experiment with a kite, proved that lightning was a form of electricity.
In 1800 Alessandro Volta developed the first electric battery. Of course we know it wasn’t really the first but this is the way history views it. He invented the Voltaic pile by placing dissimilar metals copper and zinc or silver and zinc together separated by brine soaked cloth. This cell created electric current. The theory was called contact tension.
In 1831 Michael Faraday discovered magnetic induction. The work Faraday did in his experiments is probably among the most important and led to many advances in the understanding and use of electricity. His work led to the creation of the generator enabling us to make electricity. If there is a father of electric I think Michael Faraday is it.
In 1879 Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb. This again is one of those cases where he wasn’t the first to discover that electricity could create light, but using what others found, he invented the best way to accomplish it. Edison found that by using a carbon filament in a glass globe devoid of oxygen, he could make a continuous light. An amazing invention that would change the world.
Some more important dates in the history of electricity include :
1881 – Louis Latimer gets a patent for the first light bulb with a carbon filament
1885 – George Westinghouse develops and finds uses for Alternating Current or AC
1888 – Heinrich Hertz discovers electric waves and how to measure them
1889 – Nikola Tesla develops the first real AC motor and invents the Tesla Coil
Some other electric firsts :
1889 – First electric streetcar in Seattle
1902 – First electric flashlight
1903 – First electric iron
1907 – First practical domestic vacuum cleaner
1909 – First electric toaster
1913 – First electric refrigerator
1919 – First electric pop-up toaster
The list goes on and on but one thing becomes very clear. Electricity was not one mans discovery but a combination of works by many people over hundreds if not thousands of years. For more about the history of electricity see some of the sites below.