Electricity

And Electronics
Origin
Electricity is a form of energy
that can be easily changed to
other forms.
The word Electricity comes from the
Greek name for Amber or elecktron.
1600 - William Gilbert discovers that the
earth is a giant magnet explaining how
compasses work.
1729 - Stephen Gray shows that
electricity doesn't have to be made in
place by rubbing but can also be
transferred from place to place with
conducting wires.
1733 - Charles Francois du Fay discovers
that electricity comes in two kinds which he
called resinous(-) and vitreous(+).
Defined Positive &
Negative Charges
1748 - Sir William Watson uses
an electrostatic machine and a
vacuum pump to make the first
glowing discharge tube. His
glass vessel is three feet and
three inches in diameter; the
first fluorescent light bulb
1752 - Johann Sulzer puts lead
and silver together in his mouth,
performing the first recorded
``tongue test'' of a battery.
1775 - Henry Cavendish invents the
idea of capacitance and resistance.
Luigi Galvani
1780
Studied effects of electricity on Frogs!
Revealed animals had and were effected by
electricity.
Alessandro Volta
1793
Invented the battery
1807 - Humphrey Davy shows that the
essential element of Volta's pile is chemical
action since pure water gives no effect. He
argues that chemical effects are electrical in
nature.
Hans Christian Oersted
1820
Demonstrated that electricity effected magnetism.
Initiated the study of
Electromagnetism
Discovered Aluminum
1821 - Humphrey Davy shows that direct current is
carried throughout the volume of a conductor and
establishes that

Resistance = Length / Area

for long wires. He also discovers that resistance is

increased as the temperature rises.
Michael Faraday
1834
Demonstrated electromagnetic induction
1841 - James Prescott Joule shows that
energy is conserved in electrical circuits
involving current flow, thermal heating,
and chemical transformations.
Sir Charles Wheatstone
1806-1876
Early work on the telegraph, photography, &
electricity
Heinrich Rudolph
Hertz
1857-1894
First to demonstrate the
photoelectric effect
Wilhelm Rontgen
1895
Discovered X-Ray
Thomas Alva Edison
1847-1931
1093 patents including phonograph, incandescent
lamp, much more
Nikola Tesla
1856-1943
Serbian-American Inventor and Engineer
Invented: AC generators, distribution
system and AC induction motors
Hated by Edison
Guglielmo Marconi
1874-1937
Patented Radio Telegraphy in 1896
1901 transmitted signals across the Atlantic Ocean
Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909
John Ambrose Fleming
1904 Invented the Fleming Valve - the first
electronic rectifier or diode
Lee De Forest
Held 300+ patents
1906 - invented the
Audion tube, the first
Triode vacuum tube
Walter Schottky
1886-1976
Defined shot noise - random electron noise in
thermionic tubes
1919 invented the multiple grid vacuum tube.
Edwin Howard Armstrong
1917 invented the superheterodyne radio
1933 patented FM radio(wideband)
Philo Taylor Farnsworth
1922 (age 14!) invented an electronic TV system
1927 patented his TV system
William Bradford Shockley
Walter H. Brattain
John Bardeen
1956
Invented transistor