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Electricity Timeline

  around
600 BC		 Thales, a Greek, found that when amber was rubbed with silk, it became electrically charged and attracted objects. He had originally discovered static electricity.
     
  1600 William Gilbert(England) first coined the term "electricity" from "elektron," the Greek word for amber. Gilbert wrote about the electrification of many substances. He was also the first person to use the terms electric force, magnetic pole, and electric attraction.
     
  1660
  • Otto von Guericke (Germany) described and demonstrated a vacuum, and then invented a machine that produced static electricity.
  • Robert Boyle (Ireland) discovered that electric force could be transmitted through a vacuum and observed attraction and repulsion.
    		•
         
      1675 Stephen Gray (England) distinguished between conductors and nonconductors of electrical charges.
         
      1745-46
  • Georg Von Kleist (Germany) developed the first electric capacitator, a device for storing electricity.
  • Pieter van Musschenbroek (Netherlands) independently developed an electric capacitator that would be called the  quot;Leyden jar quot; after Leiden University where he worked.
    		•
         
      1752 Ben Franklin (U.S.) tied a key to a kite string during a thunderstorm, and proved that static electricity and lightning were the same thing.
         
      1800 Alessandro Volta (Italy) invented the first electric battery. The  quot;volt quot; is named in his honor.
         
      1808 Humphry Davy(United Kingdom) invented the first effective  quot;arc lamp. quot; The arc lamp was a piece of carbon that glowed when connected by wires to a battery.
         
      1820 Separate experiments by Hans Christian Oersted(Denmark), Andre-Marie Ampere (France), and Francois Arago confirmed the relationship between electricity and magnetism.
         
      1821 Michael Faraday (England) discovered the principle of electro-magnetic rotation which would later be the key to developing the electric motor.
         
      1826 Georg Ohm (Germany) defined the relationship between power, voltage, current and resistance in  quot;Ohms Law. quot;
         
      1831
  • Using his invention the induction ring, Michael Faraday (England) proved that electricity can be induced (made) by changes in an electromagnetic field. Faraday's experiments about how electricity current works led to the understanding of electrical transformers and motors.
  • Joseph Henry(U.S.) separately discovered the principle of electromagnetic induction but didn rsquo;t publish his work. He also described an electric motor.
    		•
         
      1832 Using Faraday's principles, Hippolyte Pixii(France) built the first  quot;dynamo, quot; an electric generator capable of delivering power for industry. Pixxi's dynamo used a crank to rotate a magnet around a a piece of iron wrapped with wire.
         
      1835 Joseph Henry(U.S.) invented the electrical relay, which could send electrical currents long distances.
         
      1837 Thomas Davenport(U.S.) invented the electric motor, an invention that is used in most electrical appliances today.
         
      1839 Sir William Robert Grove(Scotland) developed the first fuel cell, a device that produces electrical energy by combining hydrogen and oxygen.
         
      1841 James Prescott Joule(England) showed that energy is conserved in electrical circuits involving current flow, thermal heating, and chemical transformations. A unit of thermal energy, the Joule, was named after him.
         
      1844 Samuel Morse( U.S.) invented the electric telegraph, a machine that could send messages long distances across wires.

         
      1860's Mathematical theory of electromagnetic fields published. J.C. Maxwell (Scotland) created a new era of physics when he unified magnetism, electricity and light. Maxwell's four laws of electrodynamics ( quot;Maxwell's Equations quot;) eventually led to electric power, radios, and television.
         
      1876 Charles Brush(U.S.) invented the  quot;open coil quot; dynamo (or generator) that could produce a study current of electricity.
      1878
  • Joseph Swan (England) invented the first incandescent lightbulb (also called an  quot;electric lamp quot;). His lightbulb burned out quickly.
  • Charles Brush(U.S.) developed an arc lamp that could be powered by a generator.
  • Thomas Edison (U.S.) founded the Edison Electric Light Co. (US), in New York City. He bought a number of patents related to electric lighting and began experiments to develop a practical, long-lasting light bulb.
    •      
      1879
  • After many experiments, Thomas Edison (U.S.) invented an incandescent light bulb that could be used for about 40 hours without burning out. By 1880 his bulbs could be used for 1200 hours.
    •    
  • Electric lights (Brush arc lamps) were first used for public street lighting in Cleveland, Ohio.
  • California Electric Light Company, Inc. in San Fransicso was the first electric company to sell electricity to customers. The company used two small Brush generators to power 21 Brush arc light lamps.
    		•
         
      1881 The electric streetcar was invented by E.W. v. Siemens
         
      1882
  • Thomas Edison (U.S.) opened the Pearl Street Power Station in New York City. The Pearl Street Station was one of the world's first central electric power plants and could power 5,000 lights. The Pearl Street Station was a direct current (DC) power system, unlike the power systems that we use today which use alternating current (AC).
  • The first hydroelectric station opened in Wisconsin.
  • Edward Johnson first put electric lights on a Christmas tree.
    •      
      1883 Nikola Tesla (U.S. immigrant from Austrian Empire) invented the  quot;Tesla coil quot;, a transformer that changed electricity from low voltage to high voltage, making it easier to transport over long distances.
         
      1884
  • Nikola Tesla (U.S. immigrant from Austrian Empire) invented the electric alternator for producing alternating current (AC). Until this time, electricity had been generated using direct current (DC) from batteries.
  • Sir Charles Algernon Parsons(England) invented a steam turbine generator, capable of generating huge amounts of electricity.
    		•
         
      1886 William Stanley, Jr. (U.S.) developed the induction coil transformer and an alternating current electric system.
         
      1888
  • Nikola Tesla (U.S. immigrant from Austrian Empire) demonstrated the first polyphase  alternating current (AC) electrical system. His AC system included everything needed for electricity production and use: generator, transformers, transmission system, motor (used in appliances) and lights. George Westinghouse, the head of Westinghouse Electric Company, bought the patent rights to the AC system.
  • Charles Brush(U.S.) was the first to use a large windmill to generate electricity. He used the windmill to charge batteries in the cellar of his home in Cleveland, Ohio.
    		•
         
      1893
  • The Westinghouse Electric Company used an alternating current (AC) system to light the Chicago World's Fair.

  • A 22 mile AC powerline was opened, sending electricity from Folsom Powerhouse in California to Sacramento.
    		•
         
      1895-1896 The Niagara Falls hydropower station opened. It originally provided electricity to the local area. One year later, when a new alternating current (AC) powerline was opened, electric power from Niagara Falls was sent to customers over 20 miles away in Buffalo, New York.
         
      1897 Joseph John Thomson (England) discovered the electron.
         
      1901 The first power line between USA and Canada was opened at Niagara Falls.
         
      1903
  • The world' s first all turbine station opened in Chicago.
  • The world' s largest generator (5,000 Watts) was opened at Shawinigan Water  & Power and the world's largest and highest voltage line;136 Kilometers and 50 Kilovolts brought power to Montreal.
    •      
      1908 J. Spangler (U.S.) invented the first electric vacuum cleaner.
         
      1909 The world's first pumped storage plant opened in Switzerland.
         
      1911 W. Carrier(U.S.) invented electric air conditioning.
         
      1913
  • T. Murray created the first air pollution control device, the  quot;cinder catcher. quot;
  • A. Goss invented the electric refrigerator.
    		•
         
      1920 The Federal Power Commission (FPC) was established for licensing hydroelectric projects.
         
      1921 Lakeside Power Plant in Wisconsin became the world's first power plant to burn only pulverized coal.
         
      1922 Connecticut Valley Power Exchange (CONVEX) started pioneering interconnection between utilities.
         
      1933 The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was created. It was the first Federal power authority and was designed  to provide regional power.
         
      1935 Some  "New Deal" legislation passed during the Roosevelt Administration was designed to regulate public utilities and bring electricity to rural America.
    • Public Utility Holding Company Act  ndash; designed to break up powerful holding companies that had bought up many smaller electric companies.
    • Federal Power Act.
    • Creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
    • Creation of Bonneville Power Project, a Federal power marketing authority.
         
      1936
  • Boulder ( later renamed Hoover) Dam, in Nevada,was completed. A 287 Kilovolt power line stretched 266 miles to Los Angeles, CA from Boulder (Hoover) Dam.
  • The
    • Rural Electrification Act  was aimed at  bringing electricity to farms across the country.
         
      1942 Due to  ldquo;Rural electrification, rdquo; almost half of American farms had electricity compared to 11 percent in 1932.
         
      1943-46 The first general purpose electronic digital computer, ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), was built.
         
      1947 The transistor was invented by scientists at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
         
      1950
  • Almost all American farms had electricity.
  • John Hopps (Canada) discovered: if a heart stopped beating due to cooling, it could be started again by artificial stimulation using mechanical or electric means. This lead to his invention of the world's first cardiac pacemaker.
    		•
         
      1951 Charles Ginsburg (U.S.) invented the first videotape recorder (VTR).
         
      1953 IBM's 701 EDPM was the first commercially successful general-purpose computer.
         
      1954
  • World' s first nuclear power plant (Russia) started generating electricity.
  • Atomic Energy Act was passed. It allowed private ownership of nuclear reactors.
  • Chaplin, Fuller, and Pearson, (U.S.) working for Bell Labs, invented the first solar cell.
    		•
         
      1957 Shippingport Reactor in Pennsylvania was the first nuclear power plant to provide electricity to customers in the U.S.
         
      1958 First commercial modem developed by AT & T.
         
      1961
  • The first commercially available integrated circuits came from the Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation (United States). All computers started to be made using chips instead of the individual transistors and their accompanying parts.
  • The first electronic desktop calculators were the Anita Mk VII and Mk 8 which used vacuum tube technology.
    •      
      1962
  • The Communications Satellite Act encouraged the development of satellite communications.
  • Steve Russell (U.S.) invented Spacewar!  The first game intended for computer use.
    •      
      1963 A direct communications link was established between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) and the United States.
         
      1964 International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) used light emitting diodes (LEDs) on circuit boards in an early mainframe computer.
         
      1972 The arcade game Pong was created by Nolan Bushnell.
         
      1973
  • Scelbi, the first personal computer, designed by Nate Wadsworth and Bob Findley, (United States) came with 1K of programmable memory, with an additional 15K of memory available. 
  • Dr Martin Cooper (United States) invented the first portable handset phone.
    		•
         
      1975 Robert S. Ledley (United States) was granted a patent for a  quot;diagnostic X-ray systems quot; also known as CAT-Scans.
         
      1976 First commercial fiber-optic cable is installed in Chicago for telephone signals.
         
      1977 The first network of automated teller machines (ATMs) was developed.
         
      1981 The computer considered by most historians to be the first true portable computer was the Osborne 1 created by Adam Osborne(U.S.).
         
      1990's Advances in light emitting diode (LED) technology led to the wide-scale commercialization of blue and green solid-state sources as well as the development of white LEDs.
         
      1993 The first PDAs or Personal Digital Assistants are released by the Apple Corporation(U.S.).
         
      1998 Ericsson, IBM, Intel, and Nokia cooperated to develop Bluetooth technology that allows wireless communication between mobile phones,  laptops, pcs, printers, digital cameras, and video gam consoles.
         
      2001 The iPOD, a portable media player, was launched by the Apple Corporation.
         
      2004 With the full color range of the high power light emitting diodes (LEDs), more advanced architectural designs and stage and studio lighting were developed.  Colored LEDs reduce power consumption.

    Last Revised: October 2007
    Sources: National Energy Education Development Project, Intermediate Energy Infobook, 2005-2006.
    California Energy Commission, Energy Quest (http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/time_machine/index.php), October 2007.


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