Thomas Alva Edison invented the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and more than 1,000 other things. Edison is best known for inventing the incandescent lightbulb in 1879. Prior to the incandescent bulb, the world relied on oil lamps and natural gas to light the night. Edison’s bulb consisted of carbonized cotton filament housed in a vacuum inside a glass bulb. The current flowing through the filament would cause it to radiate a steady glow. The vacuum was needed to keep the filament from burning up.

While still working on the lightbulb, Edison began thinking about an electric system that would provide electricity from a central power station and deliver it to homes and businesses. He designed a central power system, which began operating in New York City in 1882 and provided service to 85 customers. Thanks to Edison, the world was given not only the incandescent lightbulb, but also efficient systems to supply electricity to people.

Michael Faraday (1791–1867)
English scientist, Michael Faraday invented the generator in 1831. Before then, all useful electricity was supplied by batteries. Faraday’s  generator  provided a source of current that did not depend on batteries.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)
Benjamin Franklin performed many experiments to learn more about electricity. One year Benjamin Franklin wanted to use electricity to kill a turkey for Christmas dinner. While checking his equipment, he touched two parts at the same time and got a big shock. His whole body vibrated, and his arms were numb until the next morning. He was lucky he wasn’t burned or electrocuted! Franklin believed that lightning was a flow of electricity taking place in nature. In 1752, Benjamin Franklin’s electricity experiments led him to invent the lightning rod, which when placed at the top of a barn, church steeple, or other structure, conducts lightning bolts harmlessly into the ground.

Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937)
A New Zealand scientist, Ernest Rutherford has been called the father of nuclear science and is referred to as the man who "split the atom". He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908 for his discoveries about atoms, radioactivity and nuclear physics. His work contributed to scientists later discovering how to use nuclear energy to generate electricity.

André Ampère (1775-1836)
The electrical measurement, the amp, is named after André Ampère. He was a French mathematician and physicist who discovered that two wires carrying current attract and repel each other like magnets. He also worked out all the laws for the basis of electrical science.

Georg Simon Ohm (1787-1854)
A German physicist who discovered the mathematical law of electric resistance, called Ohm's law. The unit of measuring electrical resistance is named after him, and is called an ohm.

Alessandro Volta (1745-1827)
Allesandro Volta was an Italian nobleman who invented the electric battery. An important electrical measurement, the volt, is named after him.