| 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. |
| 1816 |
First
energy utility in US founded. |
| 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). |
| 1837 |
First
industrial electric motors. |
| 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.
|
| 1880 |
- First
power system isolated from Edison.
- Grand Rapids Michigan: Brush
arc light dynamo driven by water turbine used to provide theater and
storefront illumination.
|
| 1881 |
Niagra Falls, New York; Brush
dynamo, connected to
turbine in Quigley's flour mill lights city street lamps.
|
| 1882 |
|
| 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. |
| 1969 |
National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969. |
| 1970 |
-
Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) formed.
-
Water and Environmental
Quality Act.
-
Clean Air Act
of 1970.
|
| 1972 |
Clean
Water Act of 1972. |
| 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.
|
| 1981 |
PURPA
ruled unconstitutional by Federal judge. |
| 1982 |
U.S.
Supreme Court upholds legality of PURPA in FERC v. Mississippi (456 US
742). |
| 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).
|
| 1998 |
-
California opens
market and ISO.
-
Scottish Power
(UK) to buy Pacificorp, first foreign takeover of US utility. National
(UK) Grid then announces purchase of New England Electric System.
|
| 1999 |
-
Electricity marketed
on Internet.
-
FERC issues Order
2000, promoting regional transmission.
|
