History of Electrical Engineering

Published on November 2016 | Categories: Documents | Downloads: 36 | Comments: 0 | Views: 239
of 3
Download PDF   Embed   Report

history of electrical

Comments

Content


History of Electrical Engineering
Benjamin Franklin in 1752, was the first man who tried to utilize electricity from clouds by flying a kite
during a stormy night. In 1780, Luigi Galvani was surprised when he saw that a dead frog’s leg
twisted when it was touched by a silver and copper stick. He misunderstood the actual reason,
thinking that the electricity came from the leg itself, and referred it as animal electricity. After
development in 1800 by Alessandro Volta of the voltaic cell as a simple method of producing
electricity from a chemical reaction, an actual revolution occurred in this field and the history of
electrical engineering totally changed from this time.

Benjamin Franklin Luigi Galvani
It is needless to say that most of the theories, on which this field of engineering is built, are related to
electromagnetism. The law of electromagnetism was invented by Michael Faraday in the year 1831.
This law is popularly known asFaraday’s law of electromagnetic induction. The relation
betweencurrent and voltage in a conductor was already stated by Georg Ohm, in 1827. This
is Ohm’s law . Based on these two theories development of electrical technology began. In his
experiment with electromagnetic induction, Michael Faraday designed the most basic model of an
electrical rotating machine. In 1873, James Clerk Maxwell, published his famous article on
magnetism and electricity.
Werner von Siemens the founder of the German multinational engineering and electronic company
Siemens, made great contributions in the early days of the history of electrical engineering. He was
a great inventor and developer. Another great contributor to the electrical engineering was Sir
Thomas Edison. We all know him as inventor of electric light bulb in the year 1879. This invention
was a revolution. He was also the builder of the first electrical supply network in the world.

Georg Ohm Alessandro Volta
Although there were so many developments and research works going on before 1882, the study of
electricity was not recognized as a separate field of engineering. In that year electrical engineering
was introduced as a separate branch of engineering by TU Darmstadt University Germany. This was
the beginning of studying electrical engineering as a professional degree. In that very year Edison
started the world’s first electric supply business at DC 110V. Initially, a total of 59 houses in
Manhattan were connected to his network.
Although, alternating electric current had already been developed in Europe in the year 1850 by
Guillaume Duchenne, it was not yet commercially distributed. George Westinghouse, an American
entrepreneur and engineer, finally came forward and financially supported the development of the
AC power network. By the end of nineteenth century AC power transmission and distribution
became popular and started dominating DC distribution systems.

James Clerk Maxwell Michel Faraday

After development of the distribution network, electricity reached consumers. After electricity reaches
the consumer, it is utilized for operating different equipment run by electricity. Electrical engineering
is also involved in developing such industrial and domestic equipment at the consumer end. Many
scientists and engineers involved themselves in inventing and developing such equipment. A new
window had been opened in history of electrical engineering.
In 1895, Nikola Tesla transmitted radio frequency signal across a distance of eighty kilometers and
developed radio transmitters.
In 1897, the cathode ray tube was invented by Karl Ferdinand Braun and development of television
technology began.
In 1902, Willis Carrier developed air conditioning machines.

Thomas Edison Nikola Tesla
In 1941, Konrad Zuse introduced the first form of programmable electromechanical computer.
In 1943, Tommy Flowers produced first prototype of programmable digital computer.
In 1946 Percy Spencer invented the microwave oven.
Every day there are new inventions and developments in electrical engineering and technology. The
discussion is far from over. Here, we tried to give an overview only.

Werner von Siemens

Sponsor Documents

Or use your account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Forgot your password?

Or register your new account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link to create a new password.

Back to log-in

Close