EARLY HISTORY OF ELECTRICITY

History shows us that at least 2,500 years ago the Greeks were already familiar with the strange force (as it seemed to them) which is known today as electricity. Generally speaking, three phenomena made up all of man's knowledge of electrical effects. The first phenomenon was the familiar lightning flash – a dangerous power which could both kill people and burn or destroy their houses. The second manifestation of electricity was more or less familiar to people: a strange yellow stone which looked like glass was sometimes found in the earth. On being rubbed, that strange yellow stone – amber – obtained the ability of attracting light objects of a small size. The third phenomenon was connected with the so-called electric fish which possessed the property of giving more or less strong electric shocks which could be obtained by a person coming into contact with it.

Nobody knew that the above phenomena were due to electricity. People could neither understand their observations nor find any practical applications for them. All of man's knowledge in the field of electricity has been obtained during the last 370 years. It took a long time before scientists learned how to make use of electricity. Most of the electrically operated devices, such as the electric lamp, the refrigerator, the tram, the lift, the radio are less than one hundred years old. In spite of their having been employed for such a short period of time, they play a most important part in man's everyday life all over the world.

Famous names are connected with the scientific research on electricity, its history. As early as about 600 B. C. the Greek philosopher Phales discovered that when amber was rubbed, it attracted and held minute light objects. However, he could not know that amber was charged with electricity owing to the process of rubbing. Then Gilbert, the English physicist, began the first systematic scientific research on electrical phenomena. He discovered that various substances possessed the property similar to that of amber: they generated electricity when they were rubbed. He gave the name "electricity" to the phenomenon he was studying. He got this word from the Greek "electrum" meaning "amber".

Many learned men of Europe began to use the new word "electricity" in their conversation as they were enga­ged in research of their own. Scientists of Russia, France and Italy made their contribution as well as the Englishmen and the Germans.

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