As a normal person living a regular life on the same floating rock in space as everyone else, I can tell you with complete and total honesty: I have no idea how electricity works. I know the absolute basics—it powers things that we use and it’s dangerous. But it might as well be magic to me.  

It’s also completely unavoidable; Electricity is literally all around us. It powers modern technology like our cell phones, computers, ceiling panel lights, air conditioners, and so much more. Even if you were to try to avoid it completely, electricity is still at work in nature, from the lightning in a thunderstorm to the synapses inside our body. But how did we figure that out? Who actually discovered electricity? (spoiler alert, it isn’t Ben Franklin.) 

What is Electricity? 

Electricity might seem like a straightforward concept. We learned about it in grade school. But as you dig deeper and ask more questions, you realize that humanity’s collective understanding of electricity is limited to only abstract representations of how electricity interacts with our surroundings. 

Electricity is briefly defined as the flow of electric charge, but there's so much behind that simple statement. Where do the charges come from? How do we move them? Where do they move to? How does an electric charge cause mechanical motion or make things light up? So many questions! 

Our understanding of electricity has evolved and changed a lot over the years as humanity has learned more about the natural world and its phenomena. The general consensus however is that electricity is a form of energy resulting from the movement of charged particles, typically electrons, through a conductor. It manifests in various ways, such as electric currents, static electricity, and electromagnetic fields. 

Electric History 

When I was in elementary school, history textbooks depicted the discovery of electricity as Benjamin Franklin flying a kite in a rainstorm. This is often shown as the first discovery of electricity through conduction of lightning to metal.  

And while this is commonly known, it’s actually not true. There are nine other names who could claim the title of “Electricity Dad” all with more significant contributions than Ben Franklin. 

Thales of Miletus 

Thales was one of the Seven Sages, founding figures of Ancient Greece. Many regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition, breaking from the prior use of mythology to explain the world and instead using natural philosophy and the earliest form of science. Thales discovered that rubbing amber (fossilized tree sap) with animal fur would attract objects like feathers. Without truly knowing it, he had noticed the effects of magnetism and static electricity. 

William Gilbert (624 BCE to 546 BCE) 

While he didn’t technically discover electricity in a common sense, in his book De Magnete, English scientist William Gilbert coined the term 'electricus' in 1600, which means 'amber-like'. Polymath Sir Thomas Browne later altered the word slightly, changing it to 'electricity' in 1646. He was also the man who concluded that a compass needle points north/south and dips downward because Earth acts as a bar magnet. He is often considered the father of electrical studies. 

Otto von Guericke (1602-1686) 

Building on Gilbert’s work, German scientist Otto von Guericke successfully produced static electricity by rotating a ball of sulfur with a crank and using his free hand to rub the rotating sulfur. He wrote about electrostatic repulsion in a detailed compilation of scientific research papers titled “Ottonis de Guericke Experimenta Nova (ut vocantur) Magdeburgica de Vacuo Spatio”. Yes, that’s what it’s called. No, I’m not kidding.  

Stephen Gray (1666-1736) 

Stephen Gray is likely the scientist who inspired Ben Franklin’s infamous key and kite experiment, as Gray was the first to discover the difference between electrical insulators and conductors, finding that electricity would "flow along wires" and through certain materials like metal. 

Ewald Georg von Kleist (1700-1748) and Pieter van Musschenbroek (1692-1761) 

In 1745, two scientists with very long German names invented the Leyden jar, which is glass jar or vial coated on the inside and outside with metal foil. This was a key invention in the build-up of our understanding of electricity as this was the first device that was able to store electricity for future use. Consider this an example of the first rudimentary battery. 

Alessandro Volta (1745-1827) 

Alessandro Volta was an Italian physicist who invented the first genuine electric battery, known as the 'voltaic pile' in 1800. This device produced a steady flow of electrical current and was a significant advancement in the field. With this invention, Volta proved that electricity could be generated chemically and debunked the prevalent theory that electricity was generated solely by living beings. 

Michael Faraday (1791-1867) 

Faraday started his career as a chemist, but his most famous contributions were in the fields of electricity and magnetism. He formulated the laws of electromagnetic induction and demonstrated the generation of electricity through moving magnetic fields. Faraday's work laid the foundation for the development of electric generators and transformers, and his discoveries led to the foundation of what we now know as electromagnetic field theory. 

Thomas Edison (1847-1931) 

Edison, an American inventor, is renowned for his contributions to the practical application of electricity. He is widely considered the first person to develop a successful version of the electric light bulb, but if you’ve read Sunco’s blog, “Who Really Invented the Light Bulb?” you’ll know that this actually isn’t the case! However, Edison was a smart inventor and helped establish the world's first electric power distribution system, which was crucial in bringing electricity into homes and businesses. 

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) 

Unless you live under a rock, you probably already know this name. Before the company that bore his name developed the eyesore that is the Cybertruck, Tesla, a Serbian-American inventor and engineer, made numerous advancements in the field of electrical engineering. He and Edison worked alongside one another in their early careers before eventually parting ways as rivals. Tesla pioneered alternating current (AC) power transmission, which revolutionized the way electricity is generated, transmitted, and distributed. 

Why is Electricity Important  

Electricity has come a long way since its early days, and its evolution is fascinating. Long before Benjamin Franklin’s famous kite experiment, there were other scientists laying the groundwork. Maybe the image of a founding father getting electrocuted by a kite in a storm just felt cooler than some old Greek guy rubbing amber against a cat. 

We went from makeshift jar batteries to sleek, efficient systems that can harness renewable energy sources like wind and solar. And we are still finding new ways to utilize electricity, even to this day. New iterations of smart technology hit the markets every year and people are continuing to learn more about the way we use energy, leaving room for new names to join this list of electrical discoveries.