Historyofelectricalengineering.docVIP

History Main article: History of electrical engineering [edit] Early developments Electricity has been a subject of scientific interest since at least the 17th century, but it was not until the 19th century that research into the subject started to intensify. Notable developments in this century include the work of Georg Ohm, who in 1827 quantified the relationship between the electric current and potential difference in a conductor, Michael Faraday, the discoverer of electromagnetic induction in 1831, and James Clerk Maxwell, who in 1873 published a unified theory of electricity and magnetism in his treatise on Electricity and Magnetism.[2] During these years, the study of electricity was largely considered to be a subfield of physics. It was not until the late 19th century that universities started to offer degrees in electrical engineering. The Darmstadt University of Technology founded the first chair and the first faculty of electrical engineering worldwide in 1882. In 1883 Darmstadt University of Technology and Cornell University introduced the worlds first courses of study in electrical engineering and in 1885 the University College London founded the first chair of electrical engineering in the United Kingdom.[3] The University of Missouri subsequently established the first department of electrical engineering in the United States in 1886.[4] Thomas Edison built the worlds first large-scale electrical supply network During this period, the work concerning electrical engineering increased dramatically. In 1882, Edison switched on the worlds first large-scale electrical supply network that provided 110 volts direct current to fifty-nine customers in lower Manhattan. In 1887, Nikola Tesla filed a number of patents related to a competing form of power distribution known as alternating current. In the following years a bitter rivalry between Tesla and Edison, known as the War of Currents, took place over the preferred method of distribution. AC eventually repl