|
Year
|
Event
|
|
600 B.C.
|
Thales
of Miletus writes about amber becoming charged by rubbing - he was
describing what we now call static electricity.
|
|
1600
|
English
scientist, William
Gilbert 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.
|
|
1660
|
Otto
von Guericke invented a machine that produced static electricity.
|
|
1675
|
Robert
Boyle discovered that electric force could be transmitted through a vacuum
and observed attraction and repulsion.
|
|
1729
|
Stephen
Gray's discovery of the conduction of electricity.
|
|
1733
|
Charles
Francois du Fay 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.
|
|
1745
|
Georg Von Kleist
discovered that electricity was controllable.
Dutch physicist,
Pieter van Musschenbroek invented the
"Leyden Jar" the first electrical capacitor. Leyden
jars store static electricity.
|
|
1747
|
Benjamin Franklin
experiments with static charges in the air and theorized 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.
Henry Cavendish
started measuring the conductivity of different materials
|
|
1752
|
Benjamin
Franklin invented the lightening
rod - he demonstrated lightning was electricity.
|
|
1767
|
Joseph
Priestley discovered that electricity followed Newton's inverse-square law of gravity.
|
|
1786
|
Italian
physician, Luigi
Galvani 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.
|
|
1800
|
First
electric battery
invented by Alessandro
Volta. Volta proved that electricity
could travel over wires.
|
|
1820
|
Relationship of electricity
and magnetism confirmed by Hans Christian Oersted
who observed that electrical currents effected the needle on a compass and Marie Ampere, who discovered that a coil of wires
acted like a magnet when a current is passed thorough it.
D. F. Arago invented the electromagnet.
|
|
1821
|
First
electric motor (Faraday).
|
|
1826
|
Ohms Law (Georg Simon
Ohm) - "conduction law that relates potential, current, and
circuit resistance"
|
|
1827
|
Joseph
Henry's electromagnetic experiments lead to the concept of electrical
inductance. Joseph
Henry built one of the first electrical motors.
|
|
1831
|
Principles
of electromagnetism induction, generation and transmission discovered
(Michael Faraday).
|
|
1839
|
First fuel
cell.
|
|
1841
|
J. P.
Joule's law of electrical heating published.
|
|
1873
|
James
Clerk Maxwell wrote equations that described the electromagnetic field,
and predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves traveling with the
speed of light.
|
|
1878
|
Edison Electric Light Co. (US) and
American Electric and Illuminating (Canada) founded.
|
|
1879
|
First commercial power
station opens in San Francisco,
uses Charles
Brush generator and arc lights.
First commercial arc
lighting system installed, Cleveland,
Ohio.
Thomas
Edison demonstrates his incandescent lamp, Menlo Park, New Jersey.
|
|
1881
|
Niagra Falls, New York; Brush
dynamo, connected to turbine in Quigley's flour mill lights city street
lamps.
|
|
1882
|
Edison’s Pearl
Street Station.
First hydroelectric
station opens (Wisconsin).
|
|
1883
|
Transformer invented.
Edison introduces
"three-wire" transmission system.
|
|
1884
|
Steam
turbine invented.
|
|
1886
|
William
Stanley develops
transformer and Alternating Current electric system.
Frank
Sprague builds first American transformer and demonstrates use of step
up and step down transformers for long distance AC power transmission in
Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Westinghouse Electric
Company organized.
40 to 50 water
powered electric plants reported on line or under construction in the U.S. and Canada.
|
|
1887
|
San Bernadino, California; High Grove Station, first
hydroelectric plant in the West.
|
|
1888
|
Rotating
field AC alternator invented by Nikola
Tesla.
|
|
1889
|
Oregon City Oregon, Willamette Falls
station, first AC hydroelectric plant. Single phase power transmitted 13
miles to Portland
at 4,000 volts, stepped down to 50 volts for distribution.
|
|
1891
|
60 cycle
AC system introduced in U.S.
|
|
1892
|
General
Electric Company formed by the merger of Thomson-Houston and Edison General
Electric.
|
|
1893
|
·Westinghouse demonstrates
"universal system" of generation and distribution at Chicago exposition.
·Austin, Texas;
First dam designed specifically for hydroelectric power built across Colorado River is completed.
|
|
1897
|
Electron
discovered by J. J. Thomson.
|
|
1900
|
Highest
voltage transmission line 60 Kilovolt.
|
|
1902
|
5-Megawatt
turbine for Fisk St. Station (Chicago).
|
|
1903
|
First successful gas
turbine (France).
World’s first all
turbine station (Chicago).
Shawinigan Water &
Power installs world’s largest generator (5,000 Watts) and world’s largest
and highest voltage line—136 Km and 50 Kilovolts (to Montreal).
Electric vacuum
cleaner.
Electric washing
machine.
|
|
1904
|
John
Ambrose Fleming invented the diode rectifier vacuum tube.
|
|
1905
|
Sault
Ste. Marie, Michigan;
First low head hydro plant with direct connected vertical shaft turbines
and generators.
|
|
1906
|
Ilchester, Maryland; Fully submerged hydroelectric
plant built inside Ambursen Dam.
|
|
1907
|
Lee De
Forest invented the electric amplifier.
|
|
1909
|
First
pumped storage plant (Switzerland).
|
|
1910
|
Ernest
R. Rutherford measured the distribution of an electric charge within the
atom.
|
|
1911
|
Air
conditioning.
R. D. Johnson invents
differential surge tank and Johnson hydrostatic penstock valve.
|
|
1913
|
Electric refrigerator.
Robert Millikan
measured the electric charge on a single electron.
|
|
1917
|
Hydracone draft tube patented by W. M. White.
|
|
1920
|
First U.S.
station to only burn pulverized coal.
Federal Power
Commission (FPC).
|
|
1922
|
Connecticut
Valley Power Exchange (CONVEX) starts, pioneering interconnection between
utilities.
|
|
1928
|
Construction of Boulder
Dam begins.
Federal Trade
Commission begins investigation of holding companies.
|
|
1933
|
Tennessee
Valley Authority (TVA) established.
|
|
1935
|
Public Utility Holding
Company Act.
Federal Power Act.
Securities and Exchange
Commission.
Bonneville Power
Administration.
First night baseball
game in major leagues.
|
|
1936
|
Highest steam
temperature reaches 900 degrees Fahrenheit vs. 600 degrees Fahrenheit in
early 1920s.
287 Kilovolt line runs
266 miles to Boulder (Hoover) Dam.
Rural Electrification
Act.
|
|
1947
|
Transistor
invented.
|
|
1953
|
First 345 Kilovolt
transmission line.
First nuclear power
station ordered.
|
|
1954
|
First high voltage
direct current (HVDC) line (20 megawatts/1900 Kilovolts, 96 Km).
Atomic Energy Act of
1954 allows private ownership of nuclear reactors.
|
|
1963
|
Clean Air
Act.
|
|
1965
|
Northeast
Blackout.
|
|
1968
|
North
American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) formed.
|
|
1975
|
Brown’s
Ferry nuclear accident.
|
|
1977
|
New York City blackout.
Department of Energy
(DOE) formed.
|
|
1978
|
Public Utilities Regulatory
Policies Act (PURPA) passed, ends utility monopoly over generation.
Power Plant and
Industrial Fuel Use Act limits use of natural gas in electric generation
(repealed 1987).
|
|
1979
|
Three Mile Island nuclear accident.
|
|
1980
|
First U.S. windfarm.
Pacific Northwest
Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act establishes
regional regulation and planning.
|
|
1984
|
Annapolis, N.S., tidal power
plant—first of its kind in North America (Canada).
|
|
1985
|
Citizens
Power, first power marketer, goes into business.
|
|
1986
|
Chernobyl nuclear accident (USSR).
|
|
1990
|
Clean Air
Act amendments mandate additional pollution controls.
|
|
1992
|
National
Energy Policy Act.
|
|
1997
|
·ISO New England begins operation
(first ISO).
·New England Electric sells power
plants (first major plant divestiture).
|