Scientists and Inventors in Electricity

Who established what, in order.

Electrical understanding was assembled over roughly two centuries, and the units are a roll call of the people who did it — volt, ampere, ohm, coulomb, farad, henry, watt, hertz and tesla are all surnames.

Establishing the science

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) showed lightning is electrical and introduced positive and negative charge. Alessandro Volta (1745–1827) built the first battery, giving a steady current where only static discharge had existed. Hans Christian Ørsted (1777–1851) found that a current deflects a compass needle, linking electricity and magnetism for the first time.

André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836) turned that link into mathematics. Georg Ohm (1789–1854) established the relationship between voltage, current and resistance. Michael Faraday (1791–1867) discovered electromagnetic induction — the basis of every generator and transformer — and did it with almost no formal mathematics. James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879) supplied the mathematics, unifying electricity, magnetism and light in four equations.

Applying it

Thomas Edison (1847–1931) built a practical incandescent lamp and, more consequentially, the generation and distribution system to supply it. Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) developed the AC induction motor and polyphase systems that made long-distance distribution workable. George Westinghouse (1846–1914) commercialised AC against Edison's DC in the current war, which AC won on physics.