Michael Faraday, (1791-1867)

British physicist and chemist, best known for his

discoveries of electromagnetic induction and of the
laws of electrolysis. Faraday was born on
September 22, 1791, in Newington, Surrey,
England. He was the son of a blacksmith and
received little formal education. While apprenticed
to a bookbinder in London, he read books on
scientific subjects and experimented with
electricity. In 1812 he attended a series of lectures
given by the British chemist Sir Humphry Davy and forwarded the notes he
took at these lectures to Davy, together with a request for employment.
Davy employed Faraday as an assistant in his chemical laboratory at the
Royal Institution and in 1813 took Faraday with him on an extended tour of
Europe. Faraday was elected to the Royal Society in 1824 and the
following year was appointed director of the laboratory of the Royal
Institution. In 1833 he succeeded Davy as professor of chemistry at the
institution. Two years later he was given a pension of 300 pounds per year
for life. Faraday was the recipient of many scientific honours, including the
Royal and Rumford medals of the Royal Society; he was also offered the
presidency of the society but declined the honour. He died on August 25,
1867, near Hampton Court, Surrey.
 Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American

Enlightenment and the history of physics for his
discoveries and theories regarding electricity. He
invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove,
a carriage odometer, and the glass 'armonica'. He
conducted experiment with static charges in the air
and theorised about the existence of an electrical fluid
that could be composed of particles. William Watson discharged
a Leyden jar through a circuit, that began the comprehension of current and
circuit.

William Gilbert (1544-1603)

English scientist, who first coined the term

"electricity" from the Greek word for amber.
Gilbert wrote about the electrification of many
substances in his "De magnete, magneticisique
corporibus". He also first used the terms
electric force, magnetic pole, and electric
attraction.
 Gustav Robert Kirchhoff, (1824-87)

German physicist, born in Knigsberg (now

Kaliningrad, Russia), and educated at the
University of Knigsberg. He was professor of
physics at the universities of Breslau,
Heidelberg, and Berlin. With the German
chemist Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, Kirchhoff
developed the modern spectroscope for
chemical analysis. In 1860 the two scientists
discovered the elements cesium and rubidium
by means of spectrum analysis. Kirchhoff
conducted important investigations of radiation heat transfer and also
postulated two rules, now known as Kirchhoff's laws of networks,
concerning the distribution of current in electric circuits.

Georg Von Kleist (1700-1748)

On 11 October 1745 Kleist independently invented the

Kleistian jar, more commonly known as the
Leyden jar after graduate student Pieter van
Musschenbroek of Leyden. He discovered that
electricity was controllable. Dutch physicist,
Pieter van Musschenbroek invented the "Leyden Jar"
the first electrical capacitor. Leyden jars store
static electricity.
 James Clerk Maxwell, (1831-1879)
British physicist, best known for his work on the connection between light and
electromagnetic waves (traveling waves of energy). Maxwell discovered that
light consists of electromagnetic waves (see Electromagnetic Radiation) and
established the kinetic theory of gases. The kinetic theory of gases explains the
relationship between the movement of molecules in a gas and the gas's
temperature and other properties. He also showed that the rings of the planet
Saturn are made up of many small particles and demonstrated the principles
governing colour vision. Maxwell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was
educated at Edinburgh Academy from 1841 to 1847, when he entered the
University of Edinburgh. He then went on to study at the University of
Cambridge in 1850, graduating with a bachelor's degree in mathematics in
1854. He became a professor of natural philosophy at Marischal College in
Aberdeen in 1856. Then in 1860 he moved to London to become a professor of
natural philosophy and astronomy at King's College. On the death of his father
in 1865, Maxwell returned to his family home in Scotland and devoted himself to research. In 1871 he moved to
Cambridge, where he became the first professor of experimental physics and set up the Cavendish Laboratory, which
opened in 1874. Maxwell continued in this position until 1879, when illness forced him to resign.

Georg Simon Ohm, (1787-1854)

German physicist, best known for his research

on electrical currents. He was born in Erlangen
and educated at the University of Erlangen.
From 1833 to 1849 he was director of the
Polytechnic Institute of Nrnberg, and from
1852 until his death he was professor of
experimental physics at the University of
Munich. His formulation of the relationship
between current, electromotive force, and
resistance, known as Ohm's law, is the basic
law of current flow.
 Charles Ezra Scribner (1858-1926)

Charles E Scribner was the inventor of the "jack-

knife switch" so called because the part of it that the
operator held looked like the handle of a jackknife.
He was chief engineer at Western Electric, held more
patents (441) than any man in an electrical industry.
His most important contribution was the development
of the multiple switchboard, an important component
of networks. Charles Ezra Scribner was born in
Mount Vernon, Ohio, February 16, 1858, son of
Charles Harvey and Mary Elizabeth (Morehouse) Scribner .

Alessandro Volta, (1745 - 1827 )

Volta was born in Italy long before

science was broken up into specialities.
After studying chemistry (he discovered
methane in 1776), he became a
professor of physics and became
interested in the so-called galvanic
response, whereby a frog's leg will twitch
in response to a jolt of static electricity.
Using a wine glass full of salt water, Volta
demonstrated that the chemical reaction
between two electrodes, one made of copper, the other of zinc, will
generate a steady electric current. In 1800, he refined his apparatus by
stacking plates of copper and zinc, separated by cardboard soaked in salt
and water. This "voltaic pile" was the first electronic battery.
 Stephen Gray (1666 1736)

English dyer and amateur astronomer, who was

the first to systematically experiment with
electrical conduction, rather than simple
generation of static charges and investigations of
the static phenomena. He was instrumental in the
discovery of the conduction of electricity in 1729.
 Joseph Priestley (1733-1804)

English theologian, Dissenting clergyman,

natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and
political theorist who published over 150 works.
He is usually credited with the discovery of
oxygen, having isolated it in its gaseous state,
although Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Antoine
Lavoisier also have a claim to the discovery. He
discovered that electricity followed Newton's
inverse-square law of gravity.

James Watt (1736-1819)

Born in Scotland James Watt is known as the inventor of the

steam engine. He set up a small workshop in the University of
Glasgow where he struggled to perfect an efficient
design for using steam to move a piston in a cylinder.
Financial problems and the primitive state of the art of
metal working delayed practical applications until 1776.
Despite difficulties in obtaining patents (which could only
be granted by an act of parliament at that time), Watt
and his business partner eventually made a lot of money from
his innovations. Although he pre-dated the pioneers in
electricity, in 1889 (70 years after his death), his name was
assigned to the basic unit of electric power that can be defined by
multiplying amperes by volts.
 William Shockley (1910-1989)

Bell Laboratories - developed the first working

transistors.

Stephen Gray (1666 1736)

English dyer and amateur astronomer, who was

the first to systematically experiment with
electrical conduction, rather than simple
generation of static charges and investigations of
the static phenomena. He was instrumental in the
discovery of the conduction of electricity in 1729.
 James Clerk Maxwell, (1831-1879)

British physicist, best known for his work on the

connection between light and electromagnetic
waves (traveling waves of energy). Maxwell
discovered that light consists of electromagnetic
waves (see Electromagnetic Radiation) and
established the kinetic theory of gases. The kinetic
theory of gases explains the relationship between
the movement of molecules in a gas and the gas's
temperature and other properties. He also showed
that the rings of the planet Saturn are made up of
many small particles and demonstrated the
principles governing colour vision. Maxwell was born in Edinburgh,
Scotland. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy from 1841 to 1847,
when he entered the University of Edinburgh. He then went on to study at
the University of Cambridge in 1850, graduating with a bachelor's degree in
mathematics in 1854. He became a professor of natural philosophy at
Marischal College in Aberdeen in 1856. Then in 1860 he moved to London
to become a professor of natural philosophy and astronomy at King's
College. On the death of his father in 1865, Maxwell returned to his family
home in Scotland and devoted himself to research. In 1871 he moved to
Cambridge, where he became the first professor of experimental physics
and set up the Cavendish Laboratory, which opened in 1874. Maxwell
continued in this position until 1879, when illness forced him to resign.

Joseph Henry (1797-1878)

 American scientist whose electromagnetic experiments lead
to the concept of electrical inductance in 1827. Joseph Henry
built one of the first electrical motors.

William Gilbert (1544-1603)

English scientist, who first coined the term

"electricity" from the Greek word for
amber. Gilbert wrote about the
electrification of many substances in his
"De magnete, magneticisique
corporibus". He also first used the terms
electric force, magnetic pole, and electric
attraction.

Georg Von Kleist (1700-1748)

On 11 October 1745 Kleist independently
invented the Kleistian jar, more commonly
known as the Leyden jar after graduate student
Pieter van Musschenbroek of Leyden. He discovered
that electricity was controllable. Dutch physicist,
Pieter van Musschenbroek invented the "Leyden Jar"
the first electrical capacitor. Leyden jars store static
electricity.
 Otto von Guericke (1602-1686)

Invented a machine that produced static

electricity. German scientist, inventor, and
politician. His major scientific achievements were
the establishment of the physics of vacuums, the
discovery of an experimental method for clearly
demonstrating electrostatic repulsion, and his
advocacy of the reality of "action at a distance"
and of "absolute space".

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American

Enlightenment and the history of physics for his
discoveries and theories regarding electricity. He
invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove,
a carriage odometer, and the glass 'armonica'. He
conducted experiment with static charges in the air
and theorised about the existence of an electrical
fluid that could be composed of particles. William Watson
discharged a Leyden jar through a circuit, that began the
comprehension of current and circuit.
Gustav Hertz, (1887-1975)
 German physicist and Nobel laureate, born in
Hamburg, and educated at the universities of
Gttingen, Munich, and Berlin. In conjunction with the
American physicist James Franck, Hertz studied the
effect of the impact of electrons on atoms. As a result
of these experiments, which were the first
demonstration of the quantum theory of the German
physicist Max Planck, Hertz and Franck were
awarded the 1925 Nobel Prize in physics. Hertz
served as professor of experimental physics at the
University of Halle from 1925 to 1927 and at the Berlin Technische
Hochschule from 1928 to 1935, when he became director of the Siemens
Research Laboratory in Berlin. In 1945 he went to the USSR to continue
his work in atomic research; he was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1951.

Otto von Guericke (1602-1686)

Invented a machine that produced static

electricity. German scientist, inventor, and
politician. His major scientific achievements were
the establishment of the physics of vacuums, the
discovery of an experimental method for clearly
demonstrating electrostatic repulsion, and his
advocacy of the reality of "action at a distance"
and of "absolute space".

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American
Enlightenment and the history of physics for his
discoveries and theories regarding electricity. He
invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove,
a carriage odometer, and the glass 'armonica'. He
conducted experiment with static charges in the air and
theorised about the existence of an electrical fluid that
could be composed of particles. William Watson
discharged a Leyden jar through a circuit, that
began the comprehension of current and circuit.

Alessandro Volta, (1745 - 1827 )

Volta was born in Italy long before

science was broken up into specialities.
After studying chemistry (he discovered
methane in 1776), he became a
professor of physics and became
interested in the so-called galvanic
response, whereby a frog's leg will twitch
in response to a jolt of static electricity.
Using a wine glass full of salt water, Volta
demonstrated that the chemical reaction
between two electrodes, one made of copper, the other of zinc, will
generate a steady electric current. In 1800, he refined his apparatus by
stacking plates of copper and zinc, separated by cardboard soaked in salt
and water. This "voltaic pile" was the first electronic battery.

James Prescott Joule FRS (1818 1889)

English physicist and brewer, born in Salford, Lancashire. Joule
studied the nature of heat, and discovered its
relationship to mechanical work (see energy). This led
to the Law of conservation of energy, and this led to the
development of the First law of thermodynamics. The
SI derived unit of energy, the joule, is named for James
Joule. He worked with Lord Kelvin to develop the
absolute scale of temperature. Joule also made
observations of magnetostriction, and he found
the relationship between the current through a
resistor and the heat dissipated, which is now
called Joule's first law.

Stephen Gray (1666 1736)

English dyer and amateur astronomer, who was

the first to systematically experiment with
electrical conduction, rather than simple
generation of static charges and investigations of
the static phenomena. He was instrumental in the
discovery of the conduction of electricity in 1729.

Joseph Priestley (1733-1804)

 English theologian, Dissenting clergyman,
natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and
political theorist who published over 150 works.
He is usually credited with the discovery of
oxygen, having isolated it in its gaseous state,
although Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Antoine
Lavoisier also have a claim to the discovery. He
discovered that electricity followed Newton's
inverse-square law of gravity.

William Shockley (1910-1989)

Bell Laboratories - developed the first working

transistors.

Guglielmo Marchese Marconi, (1874-1937),

 Italian electrical engineer and Nobel laureate,
known as the inventor of the first practical radio-
signalling system. He was born in Bologna and
educated at the University of Bologna. As early as
1890 he became interested in wireless telegraphy,
and by 1895 he had developed an apparatus with
which he succeeded in sending signals to a point a
few kilometers away by means of a directional
antenna. After patenting his system in Great Britain,
he formed (1897) Marconi's Wireless Telegraph
Company, Ltd., in London. In 1899 he established
communication across the English Channel
between England and France, and in 1901 he communicated signals
across the Atlantic Ocean between Poldhu, in Cornwall, England, and St.
John's, in Newfoundland. His system was soon adopted by the British and
Italian navies, and by 1907 had been so much improved that transatlantic
wireless telegraph service was established for public use. Marconi was
awarded honours by many countries and received, jointly with the German
physicist Karl Ferdinand Braun, the 1909 Nobel Prize in physics for his
work in wireless telegraphy. During World War I he was in charge of the
Italian wireless service and developed shortwave transmission as a means
of secret communication. In the remaining years of his life he experimented
with shortwaves and microwaves.

Hans Christian rsted (1777-1851)

Danish physicist and chemist who discovered that

electric currents create magnetic fields, an
important aspect of electromagnetism. He shaped
post-Kantian philosophy and advances in science
throughout the late 19th century. He confirmed the
relationship of electricity and magnetism when he
observed that electrical currents effected the
needle on a compass.
Ernest R. Rutherford (1871-1937)

New Zealand-born physicist and chemist who became

known as the father of nuclear physics. He
measured the distribution of an electric charge
within the atom in 1910.

Michael Faraday, (1791-1867)

British physicist and chemist, best known for his discoveries of

electromagnetic induction and of the laws of electrolysis.
Faraday was born on September 22, 1791, in Newington,
Surrey, England. He was the son of a blacksmith and received
little formal education. While apprenticed to a bookbinder in
London, he read books on scientific subjects and experimented
with electricity. In 1812 he attended a series of lectures given by
the British chemist Sir Humphry Davy and forwarded the notes
he took at these lectures to Davy, together with a request for
employment. Davy employed Faraday as an assistant in his chemical laboratory at the Royal
Institution and in 1813 took Faraday with him on an extended tour of Europe. Faraday was
elected to the Royal Society in 1824 and the following year was appointed director of the
laboratory of the Royal Institution. In 1833 he succeeded Davy as professor of chemistry at the
institution. Two years later he was given a pension of 300 pounds per year for life. Faraday was
the recipient of many scientific honours, including the Royal and Rumford medals of the Royal
Society; he was also offered the presidency of the society but declined the honour. He died on
August 25, 1867, near Hampton Court, Surrey.
Sir William Robert Grove (1811-1896)

Welsh judge and physical scientist. He anticipated the

general theory of the conservation of energy, and was
a pioneer of fuel cell technology. In 1839 he invented the
first fuel cell

Lee de Forest (1873-1961)

American inventor with over 180 patents to his

credit. In 1906 De Forest invented the Audion, the
first triode vacuum tube and the first electrical
device which could amplify a weak electrical
signal and make it stronger (electric amplifier). The
Audion and vacuum tubes developed from it
founded the field of electronics and dominated it for 40
years, making possible radio broadcasting, television,
and long distance telephone service, among
many other applications.
Hans Christian rsted (1777-1851)

Danish physicist and chemist who discovered that

electric currents create magnetic fields, an
important aspect of electromagnetism. He shaped
post-Kantian philosophy and advances in science
throughout the late 19th century. He confirmed the
relationship of electricity and magnetism when he
observed that electrical currents effected the
needle on a compass.

Stephen Gray (1666 1736)

English dyer and amateur astronomer, who was

the first to systematically experiment with
electrical conduction, rather than simple
generation of static charges and investigations of
the static phenomena. He was instrumental in the
discovery of the conduction of electricity in 1729.
 Alessandro Volta, (1745 - 1827 )

Volta was born in Italy long before

science was broken up into specialities.
After studying chemistry (he discovered
methane in 1776), he became a
professor of physics and became
interested in the so-called galvanic
response, whereby a frog's leg will twitch
in response to a jolt of static electricity.
Using a wine glass full of salt water, Volta
demonstrated that the chemical reaction
between two electrodes, one made of copper, the other of zinc, will
generate a steady electric current. In 1800, he refined his apparatus by
stacking plates of copper and zinc, separated by cardboard soaked in salt
and water. This "voltaic pile" was the first electronic battery.

James Watt (1736-1819)

Born in Scotland James Watt is known as the inventor of the

steam engine. He set up a small workshop in the University of
Glasgow where he struggled to perfect an efficient
design for using steam to move a piston in a cylinder.
Financial problems and the primitive state of the art of
metal working delayed practical applications until 1776.
Despite difficulties in obtaining patents (which could only
be granted by an act of parliament at that time), Watt
and his business partner eventually made a lot of money from
his innovations. Although he pre-dated the pioneers in
electricity, in 1889 (70 years after his death), his name was
assigned to the basic unit of electric power that can be defined by
multiplying amperes by volts.
 Luigi Galvani (1737-1798)

Italian physician who demonstrated what we

now understand to be the electrical basis of
nerve impulses when he made frog muscles
twitch by jolting them with a spark from an
electrostatic machine.

Charles Francois du Fay (1698 1739)

French chemist and superintendent of the Jardin du Roi

who discovered that electricity comes in two forms
which he called resinous (-) and vitreous (+). Benjamin
Franklin and Ebenezer Kinnersley later renamed
the two forms as positive and negative.
 Alessandro Volta, (1745 - 1827 )

Volta was born in Italy long before

science was broken up into specialities.
After studying chemistry (he discovered
methane in 1776), he became a
professor of physics and became
interested in the so-called galvanic
response, whereby a frog's leg will twitch
in response to a jolt of static electricity.
Using a wine glass full of salt water, Volta
demonstrated that the chemical reaction
between two electrodes, one made of copper, the other of zinc, will
generate a steady electric current. In 1800, he refined his apparatus by
stacking plates of copper and zinc, separated by cardboard soaked in salt
and water. This "voltaic pile" was the first electronic battery.

Hans Christian rsted (1777-1851)

Danish physicist and chemist who discovered that

electric currents create magnetic fields, an
important aspect of electromagnetism. He shaped
post-Kantian philosophy and advances in science
throughout the late 19th century. He confirmed the
relationship of electricity and magnetism when he
observed that electrical currents effected the
needle on a compass.
Charles Francis Brush (849 1929)

U.S. inventor, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Famous for the

"dynamo" (an electrical generator) for powering arc lights.
He built his first arc light before 1867. In 1879 First
commercial power station opened in San Francisco, using
the Charles Brush generator and arc lights.

Georg Simon Ohm, (1787-1854)

German physicist, best known for his research

on electrical currents. He was born in Erlangen
and educated at the University of Erlangen.
From 1833 to 1849 he was director of the
Polytechnic Institute of Nrnberg, and from
1852 until his death he was professor of
experimental physics at the University of
Munich. His formulation of the relationship
between current, electromotive force, and
resistance, known as Ohm's law, is the basic
law of current flow.
 Luigi Galvani (1737-1798)

Italian physician who demonstrated what we

now understand to be the electrical basis of
nerve impulses when he made frog muscles
twitch by jolting them with a spark from an
electrostatic machine.

Stephen Gray (1666 1736)

English dyer and amateur astronomer, who was

the first to systematically experiment with
electrical conduction, rather than simple
generation of static charges and investigations of
the static phenomena. He was instrumental in the
discovery of the conduction of electricity in 1729.
Sir William Robert Grove (1811-1896)

Welsh judge and physical scientist. He anticipated the

general theory of the conservation of energy, and was
a pioneer of fuel cell technology. In 1839 he invented the
first fuel cell

Ernest R. Rutherford (1871-1937)

New Zealand-born physicist and chemist who became

known as the father of nuclear physics. He
measured the distribution of an electric charge
within the atom in 1910.
 Joseph Priestley (1733-1804)

English theologian, Dissenting clergyman,

natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and
political theorist who published over 150 works.
He is usually credited with the discovery of
oxygen, having isolated it in its gaseous state,
although Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Antoine
Lavoisier also have a claim to the discovery. He
discovered that electricity followed Newton's
inverse-square law of gravity.

William Shockley (1910-1989)

Bell Laboratories - developed the first working

transistors.