Missing Figures and Images
During the life of Charles Augustin Coulomb, he would play important roles in the developments in physics, engineering, and experimental instruments. Coulomb was born in 1736 in the Languedoc region of France, but spent much of his early life in Paris and Montpellier. In 1760, at the age of 24 he was accepted into Ecole du Genie, an army engineering school in France. Once he was completed with school, he was first deployed to Brest as a military engineer. In 1764 he was sent to Martinique in the West Indies. There he was put in charge of building the new Fort Bourbon to attempt to make the island more secure. While in the West Indies, Coulomb would demonstrate his engineering skills and technical knowledge which he would later recall in his memoirs.
The weather of Martinique was not hospitable to Coulomb, with him being ill much of his tour of duty. After nine years he was forced to return to France because these health issues.
Upon returning to France Coulomb would take an interest in the recent research concerning electricity. Which would eventually lead to the development of the torsion balance and the discovery of the relation which would become known as Coulomb's Law.
When Coulomb began his research into electric force (which would become known as Coulomb's law), Newton's law of universal gravitation had already discovered. As it would turn out electrical forces would parallel Newton's discovery in many ways. With both Coulomb's law and Newton's law of universal gravitation being proportional to inverse squared relationships.
Coulomb's work would become one of the first cases where electric charge was measured quantitatively. In the 1740's electricity was beginning to become well know. By the 1750's, Benjamin Franklin's had shown that lightning was an electrical phenomenon thereby proving that that electricity did exist in nature. Franklin's work became an inspiration to others and spawned research into the study of electricity and measurement of it.
Instruments which could indicate electricity had existed since the 1730's, however these tools did not approach real qualitative measurements. John Canton introduced an improved electrical indicator in 1753. Others such as Tiberius Cavallo of Italy concentrated their efforts atmospheric electricity, producing tools which could indicate the presence of electricity, but were a long way from quantitative measurements.
Ewald Georg von Kleist is a German scientist who created the capacitor in November of 1745. Regrettably, Kleist did not have the proper paper work to claim in the records that the design of the capacitor was his idea. Many months later, a Dutch professor named Pieter van Musschenbroek created the Leyden jar, the world’s first capacitor (on record). It was a simple jar that was half filled with water and metal above it. A metal wire was connected to it and that wire released charges. Benjamin Franklin created his own version of the Leyden jar, the flat capacitor. This was the same experiment for the more part, but it had a flat piece of glass inside of the jar. Michael Faraday was the first scientist to apply this concept to transport electric power over a large distance. Faraday created the unit of measurement for a capacitor, called Farad.
Gustave Eiffels was born in France in the Côte-d’Or, in 1832. He attended the Collège Sainte-Barbe in Paris to prepare him for the very difficult standards set by engineering colleges in France. Due to his hard work and the mentorship received by his uncle, Jean-Baptiste Mollerat, he gained access to some of the most prestigious school. He entered Ècole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures where he specialized in chemistry and
One thunderous afternoon on June 1752, Benjamin Franklin conducted what is known today as the “Kite Experiment”. He wanted to prove that if one object was electrical, the energy from that object could be transferred to another object, therefore being classified as electricity and lightning. With his son William, Ben took a string and attached the kite to it, then he attached an iron key to the kite. Next, they tied a thin metal wire from the key and put the wire inside a Leyden jar which stored all the electrical charge. His experiment profitably showed that his accusations were correct. Many other scientist tried the same experiment and were electrocuted, but Ben Franklin was the lucky one. He changed the world of science.
Cohen elaborates on the influence that the scientific ideas that were being comprehended at the time concerning anatomical and medical discoveries, physics, modern calculus, statistics, electricity, and others.
At the age of fourteen, Pierre was given a private tutor. This tutor discovered Pierre’s great interest in mathematics and physics. At age sixteen, Pierre earned his bachelor’s degree. He received his licentiate in physics ...
Have you ever walked into a room, turned on a light, and wondered, “Who gave us the ability to do this?” Nikola Tesla is the man’s name. He invented Alternating Current, or AC, which is the electrical system that we use to power our world today. In this paper, I will be describing a few of Nikola Tesla’s innovations and how they inspired and impacted our way of life.
Comte was born in the south of France in a city called Montpellier on January 19, 1788. He was the eldest of four children. His father Louis-Auguste Comte was a tax official and his mother, Félicité-Rosalie Boyer was twelve years older than his father. His parents were both of Roman Catholic faith and royalists. He attended the Citadel of Montpellier and the University of Montpellier. Comte also attended the École Polytechnique. While attending the Citadel of Montpellier, he abandoned the beliefs of his parents and picked up the beliefs of a movement called republicanism. “From 1818 to 1824 he contributed to the publications of Saint-Simon, and the direction of much of Comte's future work may be attributed to this association...
The Electric Franklin. "Benjamin Franklin's Inventions." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, 4 July 1995. Web. 23 May 2014.
Edison searched for the proper "filament" or wire, that would give good light when electricity flowed through it. He sent people to the jungles of the Amazon and forests of Japan in his search for a perfect filament material. He tested over 6,000 vegetable growths (baywood, boxwood, hickory, cedar, flax, bamboo) as filament material.
Lord Kelvin, or William Thomson, was destined for greatness at birth. He was born June 26, 1824 in Belfast, Ireland. His father was a prestigious mathematics professor at Glasgow University and his brother later became a professor of engineering (Webster 2). Both William Thomson and his older brother, James, were homeschooled by their father, also named James Thomson, in their early years. Their father encouraged them to discover and pursue all academic possibilities.
The history of engineering goes back into the 19th century when Alexander Volta (1745-1827) made a remarkable discover regarding the nature of electricity (Cosgrove 749). He discovered that electrical current could be controlled and could flow from one point to another. By the time the mid-19th century came about the rules for electricity were being established. During this time electromagnetic induction was discovered by Michael Faraday who lived from 1791 to 1867 (749). Also during this time Samuel Morris invented the telegraph in 1837 which relies on the principles of electromagnetic induction (749). Alexander Graham Bell, who lived from 1847 to 1922, created the telephone which also uses electricity in order to operate (749). Through the success of the telephone, Bell Telephone Company was established. In 1878, the light bulb was finally invented by Thomas Edison who lived from 1847 to 1931 (749). Off the principles of Faraday’s electric motor from 1821, Nicholas Tesla invented a more efficient and powerful electric motor in 1888 (749). To make these inventions be more significant, effort was expended to make better motors and transformers and to enhance the power needed to make them function. Through these inventions during the middle 19th century, it led to the capability of lighting homes and cities through the use of electricity, and it also led to the creation of the telephone communication system (750).
In 1750, Benjamin Franklin wanted to prove that lightning was caused by electricity. He tested his theory with an experiment in which he flew a kite with a metal key attached to it into a storm cloud. The historical facts are not clear as to if he actually carried out the experiment, which is why there is doubt that he is the discoverer of electricity. But, we still credit him with the idea. He also did other experiments concerning electricity, but others after him would have to ...
He studied electrical engineering at Graz Politechnic in Graz, Austria. He then moved to Budapest to work for the American Telephone Company in 1881. He then moved to Yugoslavia, where he became chief engineer to that country's first telephone system. Later he moved to Paris to work for the Continental Edison Company. While there, he developed devices that used rotating magnetic fields, for which he later received patents.
Michael Faraday is a British physicist and chemist, best known for his discoveries of electromagnetic induction and of the laws of electrolysis. He was born in 1791 to a poor family in London, Michael Faraday was extremely curious, questioning everything. He felt an urgent need to know more. At age 13, he became an errand boy for a bookbinding shop in London. He read every book that he bound, and decided that one day he would write a book of his own. He became interested in the concept of energy, specifically force. Because of his early reading and experiments with the idea of force, he was able to make important discoveries in electricity later in life. He eventually became a chemist and physicist.
One of four children, Charles was born to Benjamin and Elizabeth Babbage on December 26, 1791. Two of his siblings died at infancy, which must have devastated his mother. Charles was born in London, England, and moved to Teignmouth, Devon when he was seventeen years old. Charles’ grandfather was the mayor of Totne, a nearby town. Charles was a brilliant boy who received an exceptional education. Starting his elementary years at a private church school, he moved on to attend a grammar school in Totne. Later he started studying mathematics at a religious academy for boys. Charles’ good education and brilliant mind led him to become a wonderful inventor and engineer.