A Brief History of Electrical Engineering

The magnet was known to mankind since about 2660 BC. A naturally magnetized mineral magnetite was called lodestone. It can attract iron. The lode means 

In 1787, Abraham Bennet (1749-1799) developed a gold-leaf electroscope to detect the electrical charge. The basic principle is to transfer some charge on two gold leaves, which repel each other after receiving the charge. Charles-Augustin de 

Electric motors started to be fabricated after Oersted s discovery in 1819 that a compass needle could be deflected in an electric current. In 1821, Michael Faraday 

Today it is diflhcult to imagine life without electricity. The world produces about 24 X lO Wh electricity per annum. Attempts are being made to enhance the efficiency of electricity generation. In power plants electrical and mechanical engineers work in tandem. An offshoot of electrical engineering is electronics engineering, which is discussed in the Sect. 7.3. 

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