who invented electric | Who is the inventor of electricity

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who invented electric | Who is the inventor of electricity

The truth about the invention of electricity

When a question is asked such as: (Who invented electricity), we need to answer this question by clarifying that electricity was not invented, but rather it was discovered; It is a form of energy that humans have taken a lot of time to discover in nature. The true story of the discovery of electricity is a complex story, the first chapters of which began around 600 BC, it was not just one person who discovered electricity, but there were many great minds who contributed to us enjoying today all the luxuries that electricity provides us with.[1][2]

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Contributors to the discovery of electricity

The Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus

Humans discovered the existence of electricity for the first time in the fifth century BC, and that was in the era of Greek civilization; Where they noticed that the amber substance generates an attractive force for light objects when they rub against wool, and this phenomenon remained the focus of researchers and scientists, until the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus, known as one of the seven legendary sages; He is considered the first to study electricity, and gave clear explanations for it through the experience of friction between the amber stone with the fur, and pointed out the ability of the stone to attract feathers, dust, and other materials of lightweight. Experiments with static electricity.[3][4]

William Gilbert and scholars after 1600 AD

The history of the invention of electricity is related to the scientist and physicist (William Gilbert), the doctor of Queen Elizabeth I in England. Electricity was not known before, except through information that the lodestone, or so-called magnetite, has magnetic properties, And that rubbing amber will lead to some materials sticking to it, and Gilbert had raised the subject of electricity within his thesis written in Latin, and the scientist had put in this book a summary of his experiences and research related to magnetism and electricity, and the scientist Gilbert, who is called (the father of modern electricity), invented the word (Electricus).[1][2]

which is the Latin equivalent of the word (amber) to describe the forces that appear in materials when they rub against each other, and the word (Electricity) appeared for the first time several years later when the English scientist (Thomas Browne) used it in his books that he wrote after studying Gilbert’s research.

Other scientists who contributed to the development of electricity during this period include:[1][2]

  • The scientist (Otto von Guericke), invented in 1660 AD the machine to generate static electricity.
  • Scientist (Francis Hauksbee), invented an improved generator for static electricity.
  • The scientist (Robert Boyle), discovered the existence of repulsive forces along with attractive forces, and that electricity travels in a vacuum.
  • Scientist: (Stephen Gray), conducted many experiments in which he proved the existence of electrically conductive materials and other non-conductive materials.
  • The scientist (Charles F du Fay), distinguished between two types of electricity, which paved the way for the emergence of the concepts of positive and negative electric charges developed by Benjamin Franklin and the scientist (Ebenezer Kinnersley) later.
  • The scientist (Pieter van Musschenbroek) invented the Leyden jar in 1745, a flask that stores and condenses static electricity.
  • Scientist (William Watson), managed to discharge static electricity from a Leyden flask.
  • The scientist (Henry Cavendish), was able to study the conductivity of materials.
  • The scientist (Charles de Coulomb) discovered the law of attraction between electrified particles.

who invented electric | Who is the inventor of electricity


Benjamin Franklin and the Scientists before Thomas Edison

The American scientist (Benjamin Franklin) came to invent the concept of positive electricity and negative electricity, based on the attraction or repulsion caused by electrically charged objects, thus he was able to divide electric charges into positive and negative charges, and in 1752 AD, he conducted the famous experiment that In which he used a paper plane, and a key attached to it during a thunderstorm, during which he was able to prove that there is a relationship between lightning and electricity, and then more interest in electric current appeared when the scientist Luigi Galvani (Italian: Luigi Galvani) noticed in 1786 that the frog’s legs move as a result of Discharging static electricity, so he mistakenly assumed that the frog leg generates electricity, but the scientist Alessandro Volta (Italian: Alessandro Volta) believed otherwise, and he invented the first battery that produces a constant electric current as evidence that electric current is generated chemically.

who invented electric | Who is the inventor of electricity

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And other scientists who contributed to the development of electricity during this period, benefiting from the discoveries of Volta

  • The English inventor and chemist (Humphry Davy), in 1802 AD, made the first electric lamp by connecting (Voltaic Piles) to coal electrodes, and named it (Electric Arc Lamp); This is due to the bright arc of light emitted between the two carbon rods.
  • The scientist (Georg Ohm), Volta paved the way for this scientist who created the relationship between voltage, current, and resistance in an electrical circuit, which is now known as Ohm’s Law.
  • James Prescott Joule discovered the law of electrical heating.
  • The scientist (Gustav Robert Kirchhoff) formulated laws for collecting electric current and electric potential, which are the basic laws for calculating electrical circuits.

Thomas Edison and the invention of the incandescent lamp

The scientist Hans Christian Ørsted (Danish: Hans Christian Ørsted) discovered in 1819 that a magnetic field is generated around a wire if an electric current is passed through it. In 1873, many electromagnetic laws were established, and the scientist François Arago (French: François Arago) invented the electromagnet, after that came the scientist Michael Faraday, who was the first to pass an electric current through wires, and his invention of electromagnetic devices paved the way for the beginning of the emergence The technology of electric generators, where the scientist Hippolyte Pixii (French: Hippolyte Pixii) relied on Faraday’s model to manufacture a hand-operated electric generator, and this door opened to both the American scientist (Thomas Edison) and the British scientist (Joseph Swan) to invent the incandescent lamp around 1878 AD, Each of them later established a joint company to produce the first incandescent lamp, and they were able to light the first electric street lamps in New York in September 1882 AD.

who invented electric | Who is the inventor of electricity


Edison’s discovery of the light bulb, and low-cost and high-quality lighting, laid the foundations for the electricity industry and the construction of power plants. where the Croatian scientist (Nikola Tesla) used alternating current (AC); To transmit electricity over a long distance, then the alternating current became the common electric current all over the world. After that, George Westinghouse applied the alternating current system commercially in his company, and a hydroelectric power station (waterfalls) was established. Through which low-cost and more efficient electricity was generated, the Swedish engineer Gustaf de Laval (Swedish: Gustaf de Laval) in the late nineteenth century designed a steam engine that extracts heat energy from pressurized steam and turns it into a rotating motion, called The discovery was called (the turbine engine), as it greatly contributed to advancing the wheel of technology forward, as the British engineer Charles Parsons invented the first turbine generator in 1884 AD, as it generated only 7.5 kilowatts, but with a somewhat low conversion efficiency. In developing his invention to be able to invent the first condenser turbine, and in 1900 AD, he established the first 1-megawatt power plant, and steam-powered turbines continued to Generate most of the electricity that is produced around the world.

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