1. Early History of Electricity
Yaxian Xie

2. 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 .(

3. 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

4. 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. (

5. 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.

6. 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.