It is something that many people have wondered over the past centuries. However, the question is poorly formulated, because electricity occurs in nature, so it was not invented by anyone. What it was is taken to another level to serve as use and lighting in the dark nights. With respect to who discovered electricity, there are a lot of misconceptions spread by the networks and by word of mouth.
In this article we are going to clarify all doubts and disprove some erroneous beliefs that exist in today's society. Do you want to know who really discovered electricity? Keep reading because we tell you everything in detail.
History of electricity
Some think that the discoverer of electricity is Benjamin Franklin. However, this is not quite so. The reality is something different. It is true that this Franklin was conducting experiments to get electricity, but they only helped to connect electricity for humans with lightning produced in nature. This connection greatly helped the development of electricity, but it was not he who discovered it.
The history of electricity is more complex, since it is quite a feat to master something that can kill you as soon as you come into contact with it and that in nature has been feared for thousands of years. The history goes back more than two thousand years old.
Already the ancient Greeks in 600 BC discovered that if they rubbed the skin of an animal with the resin of the trees it caused a kind of attraction between them. This is what is known as static electricity. Therefore, already from this time a type of electricity was being known. Perhaps it is not the electricity that serves to provide light to cities, but it is true that research and curiosity began to develop there.
Some researchers and archaeologists have found copper-plated vessels that could serve as batteries to illuminate ancient Roman sites. So all of this goes back much earlier than you might think.
Already in the seventeenth century is when more discoveries were made about electricity as we know it today. The first thing that was invented was the electrostatic generator, since this type of energy was known much more.
Several important researchers
Thanks to the knowledge about the operation of static electricity, it was possible to classify some materials such as those we know today: insulators and conductors. This was something different and remarkable for the time they were in. Thanks to this development, it was possible to know how to better investigate electricity from conductive materials and to later build some safe structures with insulating materials.
In 1600, the word 'electricus" by English physician William Gilbert and it referred to the force exerted by some substances when they rubbed against each other.
After that, an English scientist named Thomas Browne He wrote several books in which he explained all the research he did based on electricity as a reference to Gilbert.
This is where we get to the part that is best known to society in general. It's about Benjamin Franklin. In 1752 this scientist was experimenting with a kite, a key and the existence of a thunderstorm. With this scientific experiment that everyone thinks was the discovery of electricity, it was nothing more than the demonstration that the lightning bolt and the small sparks that jumped from the kite were the same.
It wasn't until later that Alessandro Volta discovered some chemical reactions that could induce the production of electricity. Thanks to these experiments and chemistry it was possible to build the voltaic cell in 1800. This cell is capable of producing a constant electric current. Therefore, it can be said that Volta was the first researcher capable of creating a constant flow of electrical charge and energy. He also used the knowledge gained from other researchers about positive and negative charge connectors. Thus he created the voltage across them.
Modern electricity
We are already approaching the discovery of electricity as we know it today. In 1831 electricity became useful for technology thanks to the discovery of Michael Faraday. This scientist was able to invent the electric dynamo. It is a power generator and it helped to solve some problems with generating electricity continuously.
With Faraday's discovery, Thomas Edison had on a platter the creation of the first incandescent filament light bulb in 1878. It is here that the light bulb as we know it today was born. The bulbs had already been invented by others, but the incandescent was the first that had a practical and useful use to give light for many hours.
On the other hand, scientist Joseph Swan also invented another Incandescent bulb and, together, they created a company where they produced the first incandescent lamp. These lamps used direct current to provide light to the first electric street lamps on the streets of New York in September 1882.
Who Really Discovered Electricity?
Already at the beginning of 1900 was when engineer Nikola Tesla took it upon himself to turn energy into something entirely commercial. He worked alongside Edison and later developed some totally revolutionary electromagnetism projects. He is well known for his excellent work with alternating current which led to the creation of a polyphase distribution system such as those known today.
Later, George Westinghouse bought Tesla's patented motor so that he could develop and sell it, creating alternating current on a large scale. These inventions signaled to mankind that commercial electricity had to be based on alternating current and not direct current.
As you can see, when it comes to who discovered electricity, it cannot be said or named that it was a single person. As they have been able to discover, it is a work of thousands of years and the participation of numerous researchers from different fields and areas of knowledge. Electricity is something that has greatly developed human life and we must be grateful to all these people for making it possible.