Early History of Electricity Yaxian Xie yxx5029@psu.edu

Early History of Electricity-William Gilbert The history of electricity begins with William Gilbert, a physician who served Queen Elizabeth the first of England. Gilbert showed that: The Earth itself was a magnet In 1600, William Gilbert published his treatise De magnete, Magneticisique Corporibus (On the Magnet). The book summarized all of the verifiable work on magnetism. Gilbert raised the interest in the new science greatly. It was Gilbert who coined the expression "electrica" in his famous book .(http://inventors.about.com/cs/inventorsalphabet/a/electricity.htm)

Early History of Electricity - Early Inventors Inspired and educated by William Gilbert several Europeans inventors, Otto von Guericke of Germany, Charles Francois Du Fay of France, and Stephen Gray of England, expanded the knowledge. In 1660, Otto von Guericke invented a crude machine for producing static electricity. It was a ball of sulfur, rotated by a crank with one hand and rubbed with the other Stephen Gray distinguished between conductors and nonconductors (1729). C. F. Du Fay recognized two kinds of electricity, which Benjamin Franklin and Ebenezer Kinnersley of Philadelphia later named positive and negative http://www.ask.com/wiki/History_of_electromagnetism.

Early History of Electricity - Leyden Jar The leyden jar was the original capacitor, a device that stores and releases an electrical charge Progress quickened after the Leyden jar was invented in 1745 by Pieter van Musschenbroek. The Leyden jar stored static electricity, which could be discharged all at once. In 1747 William Watson discharged a Leyden jar through a circuit, and comprehension of the current and circuit started a new field of experimentation. (http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/museum/leydenjar.html)

Early History of Electricity – Ben Franklin Ben Franklin's important discovery was that electricity and lightning were one and the same. Ben Franklin's lightning rod was the first practical application of electricity. Mid-eighteenth century scientists and inventors considered electricity o be Franklin's most remarkable area of investigation and discovery. In his famous experiment using a key and a kite during a thunderstorm, Franklin worked with his son and tested his hypothesis that lightning bolts are actually powerful electrical currents. This work led to the invention of the lightning rod which had the dramatic effect of preventing structures from igniting and burning as the result of being struck by lightning. http://heidrich-dwvh.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html

Influence of Early History of Electricity (new insight this topic provide to me ) Using the Early History of Electricity could help us to enhance the process of developing our modern understanding of electricity. Their understanding of the phenomena concerned followed a similar path to that followed by modern students as they discover the concepts of electricity and magnetic fields and how electricity and magnetism interact. Their theories encourage more people to explore the close and reciprocal relationship between science and technology, between theory and practice.