Physics
1800 Alessandro Volta invents the first electric battery.
1820 Hans Christian Ørsted discovers that electricity creates a magnetic field.
1820 André-Marie Ampère formulates a mathematical theory of electromagnetism.
1830 Joseph Henry creates the first powerful electromagnet.
1845 Faraday demonstrates the link between light and electromagnetism.
1878 Designed by Sigmund Schuckert, the first steam-driven power station generates electricity for the Linderhof Palace in Bavaria, Germany.
1882 US inventor Thomas Edison builds a power station to power electric lighting in Manhattan, New York City.
British scientist Michael Faraday’s discovery of the principles of both the electric motor and the electric generator paved the way for the electrical revolution that would transform the modern world, bringing everything from light bulbs to telecommunications. Faraday himself foresaw the value of his discoveries – and the tax revenues they could generate for government.
In 1821, a few months after hearing of Hans Christian Ørsted’s discovery of the link between electricity and magnetism, Faraday demonstrated how a magnet will move around an electric wire, and an electric wire will move around a magnet. The electric wire produces a circular magnetic field around it, which generates a tangential force on the magnet, producing circular motion. This is the principle behind the electric motor. A spinning motion is set up by alternating the direction of the current, which alternates the direction of the magnetic field in the wire.
Ten years later, Faraday made an even more important discovery – that a moving magnetic field can create or “induce” a current of electricity. This discovery – which was also made independently by the US physicist Joseph Henry around the same time – is the basis for generating all electricity. Electromagnetic induction converts the kinetic energy in a spinning turbine into electrical current.
See also: Alessandro Volta • Hans Christian Ørsted • James Clerk Maxwell