Timeline of electrical and electronics engineering

The following timeline tables list the discoveries and inventions in the history of electrical and electronics engineering.

History of discoveries timeline

Year	Event
600 BCE	Ancient Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus described static electricity by rubbing fur on substances such as amber.
1600	English scientist William Gilbert coined the word electricus after careful experiments. He also explained the magnetism of Earth.
1660	German scientist Otto von Guericke invented a device that creates static electricity, considered the first electric generator.
1705	English scientist Francis Hauksbee made a glass ball that glowed when spun and rubbed with the hand.
1720	English scientist Stephen Gray made the distinction between insulators and conductors.
1745	German physicist Ewald Georg von Kleist and Dutch scientist Pieter van Musschenbroek invented Leyden jars.
1752	American scientist Benjamin Franklin showed that lightning was electrical by flying a kite and explained how Leyden jars work.
1780	Italian scientist Luigi Galvani discovered galvanic action in living tissue.
1785	French physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb formulated and published Coulomb's law in his paper Premier Mémoire sur l'Électricité et le Magnétisme.
1785	French mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace developed the Laplace transform to transform a linear differential equation into an algebraic equation. Later, his transform became a tool in circuit analysis.
1800	Italian physicist Alessandro Volta invented the battery.
1804	Thomas Young: Wave theory of light, Vision and color theory.
1808	Atomic theory introduced by John Dalton.
1816	English inventor Francis Ronalds built the first working electrical telegraph.
1820	Danish physicist Hans Christian Ørsted accidentally discovered that an electric field creates a magnetic field.
1820	One week after Ørsted's discovery, French physicist André-Marie Ampère published his law. He also proposed the right-hand grip rule.
1821	German scientist Thomas Johann Seebeck discovered thermoelectricity.
1825	English physicist William Sturgeon developed the first electromagnet.
1827	German physicist Georg Ohm introduced the concept of electrical resistance.
1831	English physicist Michael Faraday published the law of induction (Joseph Henry developed the same law independently).
1831	American scientist Joseph Henry in the United States developed a prototype DC motor.
1832	French instrument maker Hippolyte Pixii in France developed a prototype DC generator.
1833	Michael Faraday developed the laws of electrolysis.
1833	Michael Faraday invented the thermistor.
1833	English physicist Samuel Hunter Christie invented the Wheatstone bridge (named after Charles Wheatstone who popularized it).
1836	Irish priest and scientist Nicholas Callan invented the transformer in Ireland.
1837	English scientist Edward Davy invented the electric relay.
1839	French scientist Edmond Becquerel discovered the photovoltaic effect.
1844	American inventor Samuel Morse developed telegraphy and the Morse code.
1844	Woolrich Electrical Generator, the earliest electrical generator used in an industrial process.
1845	German physicist Gustav Kirchhoff developed the two laws now known as Kirchhoff's circuit laws.
1850	Belgian engineer Floris Nollet invented (and patented) a practical AC generator.
1851	Heinrich Daniel Ruhmkorff developed the first induction coil, which he patented in 1851.
1855	First utilization of AC (in electrotherapy) by French neurologist Guillaume Duchenne.
1856	Belgian engineer Charles Bourseul proposed telephony.
1856	First electrically powered lighthouse operational in England.
1860	German scientist Johann Philipp Reis invented the microphone.
1862	Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell published the four equations bearing his name.
1866	The Transatlantic telegraph cable.
1873	Belgian engineer Zénobe Gramme who developed the DC generator accidentally discovered that a DC generator also works as a DC motor during an exhibit in Vienna.
1876	Paper capacitor manufacturing started.
1876	Russian engineer Pavel Yablochkov invented the electric carbon arc lamp.
1876	Scottish inventor Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone.
1877	American inventor Thomas Edison invented the phonograph.
1877	German industrialist Werner von Siemens developed a primitive loudspeaker.
1878	First electric street lighting installed in Paris, France.
1878	First hydroelectric plant built at Cragside, England.
1878	William Crookes invents the Crookes tube, a prototype of vacuum tubes.
1878	English engineer Joseph Swan invented the incandescent light bulb.
1879	American physicist Edwin Hall discovered the Hall effect.
1879	Thomas Edison introduced a long-lasting filament for the incandescent lamp.
1880	French physicists Pierre Curie and Jacques Curie discovered piezoelectricity.
1882	First thermal power stations operational in London and New York.
1887	German-American inventor Emile Berliner invented the gramophone record.
1888	German physicist Heinrich Hertz proves the existence of electromagnetic waves, including radio waves.
1888	Italian physicist and electrical engineer Galileo Ferraris publishes a paper on the induction motor, and Serbian-American engineer Nikola Tesla obtains a US patent on the same device.
1890	Thomas Edison invents the fuse.
1893	During the Fourth International Conference of Electricians in Chicago, electrical units were formally defined.
1893	English physicist J. J. Thomson invented waveguides.
1894	Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi begins developing the first radio wave based wireless telegraphy communication system.
1895	Indian physicist Jagadish Chandra Bose conducts experiments in extremely high frequency millimetre waves using a semiconductor junction to detect radio waves.
1895	In a series of field experiments, Marconi transmits radio waves over ranges up to 2 miles (3.2 km) and across hills.
1895	Russian physicist Alexander Popov builds a radio receiver that can detect lightning strikes.
1895	Discovery of X-rays by Wilhelm Röntgen.
1896	Electrolytic capacitor patent granted to Charles Pollak.
1897	German inventor Karl Ferdinand Braun invented the cathode-ray oscilloscope (CRO).
1901	First transatlantic radio transmission achieved by Guglielmo Marconi.
1901	American engineer Peter Cooper Hewitt invented the fluorescent lamp.
1904	English engineer John Ambrose Fleming invented the diode.
1906	American inventor Lee de Forest invented the triode.
1908	Scottish engineer Alan Archibald Campbell-Swinton laid out the principles of television.
1909	Mica capacitor invented by William Dubilier.
1911	Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovered superconductivity.
1912	American engineer Edwin Howard Armstrong developed the electronic oscillator.
1915	French physicist Paul Langevin and Russian engineer Constantin Chilowsky invented sonar.
1917	American engineer Alexander M. Nicholson invented the crystal oscillator.
1918	French physicists Henri Abraham and Eugène Bloch invented the multivibrator.
1919	Edwin Howard Armstrong developed the standard AM radio receiver.
1921	Metre Convention extended to include electrical units.
1921	Edith Clarke invents the "Clarke calculator", a graphical calculator for solving line equations involving hyperbolic functions, allowing electrical engineers to simplify calculations for inductance and capacitance in power transmission lines.
1924	Japanese engineer Kenjiro Takayanagi began a research program on electronic television.
1925	Austrian-American engineer Julius Edgar Lilienfeld patented the first FET (which became practical decades later).
1926	Yagi–Uda antenna developed by Japanese engineers Hidetsugu Yagi and Shintaro Uda.
1926	Japanese engineer Kenjiro Takayanagi demonstrated CRT television with 40-line display resolution, the first working example of a fully electronic television receiver.
1927	Japanese engineer Kenjiro Takayanagi increased television resolution to 100 lines, unrivaled until 1931.
1927	American engineer Harold Stephen Black invented the negative-feedback amplifier.
1927	German physicist Max Dieckmann invented the video camera tube.
1928	Raman scattering discovered by Indian physicists C. V. Raman and K. S. Krishnan, providing the basis for the later Raman laser.
1928	Japanese engineer Kenjiro Takayanagi was the first to transmit human faces in half-tones on television, influencing the later work of Vladimir K. Zworykin.
1928	First experimental television broadcast in the U.S.
1929	First public TV broadcast in Germany.
1931	First wind energy plant in the Soviet Union.
1934	Akira Nakashima, Claude Shannon, and Viktor Shestakov developed switching circuit theory, laying foundations for digital electronics.
1936	Dudley E. Foster and Stuart William Seeley developed the FM detector circuit.
1936	Austrian engineer Paul Eisler invented the printed circuit board.
1936	Scottish scientist Robert Watson-Watt developed the radar concept which was proposed earlier.
1938	Russian-American engineer Vladimir K. Zworykin developed the iconoscope.
1939	Edwin Howard Armstrong developed the FM radio receiver.
1939	Russell and Sigurd Varian developed the first klystron tube in the US.
1941	German engineer Konrad Zuse developed the first programmable computer in Berlin.
1944	Scottish engineer John Logie Baird developed the first color picture tube.
1945	Transatlantic telephone cable.
1948	First transistor: Bipolar junction transistor (BJT) developed by American engineers John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain alongside William Shockley.
1948	Hungarian-British physicist Dennis Gabor invented holography.
1950s	Solid electrolyte tantalum capacitor invented at Bell Labs.
1950	French physicist Alfred Kastler invented the maser.
1951	First commercial nuclear power plant operational in the US.
1952	Japanese engineer Jun-ichi Nishizawa invented the avalanche photodiode.
1953	First fully transistorized computer by Bell Labs (U.S.): TRADIC.
1958	American engineer Jack Kilby invented the integrated circuit (IC).
1959	First working discrete MOSFET: p-MOSFET fabricated by Bell Labs.
1960	American engineer Theodore Maiman develops the first laser.
1962	Nick Holonyak invented the visible-spectrum LED.
1963	First home videocassette recorder (VCR).
1963	Electronic calculator.
1966	Fiber-optic communication proposed by Charles Kao and George Hockham.
2008	American scientist R. Stanley Williams demonstrated the physical memristor proposed by Leon Chua in 1971.

History of associated inventions timeline

Date	Invention / Discovery	Inventor(s)
1900	Old quantum theory	Planck
1905	Theory of relativity	Einstein
1918	Atomic transmutation	Rutherford
1932	Neutron	Chadwick
1932	Particle accelerator	Cockcroft and Walton
1935	Scanning electron microscope	Knoll
1937	Xerography	Carlson
1937	Oscilloscope	Von Ardenne, Dowling, and Bullen
1950	Modem	MIT and Bell Labs
1950	Karnaugh mapping technique (digital logic)	Karnaugh
1952	Digital voltmeter	Kay
1954	Solar battery	Chapin, Fuller, and Pearson
1956	Transatlantic telephone cable	UK and U.S.
1957	Sputnik I satellite	Soviet Union
1957	Nuclear Missile	Kurchatov / Soviet Union
1957	FORTRAN programming language	Watson Scientific
1959	First one-piece plain paper photocopier (Xerox 914)	Xerox
1959	Veroboard	Terry Fitzpatrick
1961	Electronic clock	Vogel and Cie, patented by Alexander Bain in 1840
1963	First commercially successful audio compact cassette	Philips Corporation
1964	BASIC programming language	Kemeny and Kurtz
1964	Liquid-crystal display	George H. Heilmeier
late 1960s	First digital fax machine	Dacom
1969	UNIX operating system	AT&T's Bell Labs
1970	First microprocessor (4004, 60,000 oper/s)	Intel
1970	First commercially available DRAM memory	IBM
1971	EPROM	N/A
1971	PASCAL programming language	Niklaus Wirth
1971	First microcomputer-on-a-chip	Intel
1971	Laser printer	Xerox
1972	8008 processor (200 kHz, 16 kB)	Intel
1972	First programmable word processor	Automatic Electronic Systems
1972	5¼-inch diskette	N/A
1972	First modern ATM (IBM 2984)	IBM
1973	Josephson junction	IBM
1973	Tunable continuous-wave laser	Bell Labs
1973	Ethernet	Robert Metcalfe at Xerox PARC
1973	Mobile phone	John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper of Motorola
1974	C (programming language)	Kernighan, Ritchie
1974	Programmable pocket calculator	Hewlett-Packard
1975	BASIC for personal computers	Allen
1975	First personal computer (Altair 8800)	Roberts
1975	Digital camera	Steven Sasson of Kodak
1975	Integrated optical circuits	Reinhart and Logan
1975	Omni-font optical character recognition system	Nuance Communications
1975	CCD flatbed scanner	Kurzweil Computer Products
1975	Text-to-speech synthesis	Kurzweil Computer Products
1975	First commercial reading machine for the blind (Kurzweil Reading Machine)	Kurzweil Computer Products
1976	Apple I computer	Wozniak, Jobs
1977	Launch of the "1977 trinity computers" expanding home computers: Apple II, Commodore PET, and TRS-80	Apple, Tandy Corporation, Commodore
1977	First handheld game console (Auto Race)	Mattel
1977	LZ77 algorithm created	Abraham Lempel and Jacob Ziv
1978	WordPerfect 1.0	Satellite Software
1980	3½-inch floppy (2-sided, 875 kB)	N/A
1980	VIC-20	Commodore Business Machines
1981	IBM Personal Computer (8088 processor)	IBM
1981	MS-DOS 1.0	Microsoft
1981	"Wet" solar cell	Bayer AG
1982	Commodore 64	Commodore Business Machines
1982	First commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition	Kurzweil Applied Intelligence and Dragon Systems
1983	Satellite television	U.S. Satellite Communications, Inc.
1983	First built-in hard disk drive (IBM PC XT)	IBM
1983	C++ (programming language)	Stroustrup
1984	Macintosh computer (introduced)	Apple Computer
1984	CD-ROM player for personal computers	Philips
1984	First music synthesizer (Kurzweil K250) capable of recreating grand piano and orchestral instruments	Kurzweil Music Systems
1984	Amiga computer (introduced)	Commodore
1985	300,000 simultaneous telephone conversations over single optical fiber	AT&T, Bell Labs
1987	Warmer superconductivity	Karl Alex Mueller
1987	80386 microprocessor (25 MHz)	Intel
1989	First commercial handheld GPS navigation device (Magellan NAV 1000)	Magellan Navigation Inc.
1989	Silicon-germanium transistors	Bernie Meyerson at IBM
1990	486 microprocessor (33 MHz)	Intel
1993	HAARP	U.S.
1994	Pentium processor (P5-based, 60/90 MHz)	Intel
1994	Bluetooth	Ericsson
1994	First DVD player ever made	Tatung Company
1996	Alpha 21164 processor (550 MHz)	Digital Equipment
1996	P2SC processor (15 million transistors)	IBM

Innovations in consumer electronics

1843–1923: From electromechanics to electronics

Thomas Edison's phonograph

• 1843: Watchmaker Alexander Bain develops the basic concept of displaying images as points with different brightness values.
• 1848: Frederick Collier Bakewell invents the first wirephoto machine, an early fax machine.
• 1861: Grade school teacher Philipp Reis presents his telephone in Frankfurt, inventing the loudspeaker as a byproduct.
• 1867: French poet and philosopher Charles Cros presents the construction principle of a phonograph in his 'paréophone'.
• 1867: James Clerk Maxwell develops a theory predicting the existence of electromagnetic waves and establishes Maxwell's equations to describe their properties.
• 1874: Ferdinand Braun discovers the rectifier effect in metal sulfides and metal oxides.
• 1877: Thomas Edison invents the first phonograph, using a tin foil cylinder to record and play back sounds.
• 1880: American physicist Charles Sumner Tainter discovers that audio tracks can be engraved in a flat, round disk, laying foundations for the gramophone record.
• 1884: Paul Nipkow obtains a patent for his Nipkow disk, an image-scanning device that constitutes the foundation for mechanical television.
• 1886: Heinrich Hertz proves the existence of electromagnetic waves, laying groundwork for wireless telegraphy and radio broadcasting.
• 1887: Emile Berliner patents the gramophone, using flat records that are easier to duplicate and store.
• 1888:
  • Alexander Graham Bell significantly reduces noise by using a wax cylinder instead of tin foil for the phonograph.
  • American Oberlin Smith describes a process to record audio using a cotton thread with fine wire clippings, making reel-to-reel audio tape recording possible.
• 1890:
  • The phonograph incorporates an electric motor, leading to early jukeboxes with cylinders.
  • Thomas Edison discovers thermionic emission, forming the basis for vacuum tubes and cathode-ray tubes.
• c. 1893: The selenium phototube allows conversion of brightness values into electrical signals, applied in wirephoto and television technology.

Cinématographe camera by the Lumière brothers in 1895

• 1895: Auguste Lumière's cinematograph displays moving images for the first time; brothers Emil and Max Skladanowsky present their Bioscop in Berlin.
• 1897:
  • Ferdinand Braun invents the cathode-ray oscilloscope.
  • Guglielmo Marconi transmits wireless telegraph messages over a distance of five kilometers.
• 1898:
  • Danish physicist Valdemar Poulsen creates the world's first magnetic recording using a steel wire (telegraphone).
  • Nikola Tesla publicly demonstrates the first wireless remote control of a model ship.
• 1899: The dog "Nipper" is used in "His Master's Voice", the trademark for gramophones.
• 1901: Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres Quevedo develops the Telekino, an early wireless radio control system.
• 1902:
  • Otto von Bronk patents a method for remote visualization of images impacting early color television (NTSC).
  • Double-sided audio records appear with center paper labels.
• 1903: Guglielmo Marconi proves wireless telegraphic communication across the Atlantic using a transmitter developed by Ferdinand Braun.
• 1904:
  • Double-sided records with a 30 cm diameter are produced by Odeon in Berlin.
  • German physicist Arthur Korn develops practical methods for phototelegraphy.
• 1905: Sir John Ambrose Fleming invents the vacuum diode.
• 1906:
  • Robert von Lieben and Lee de Forest independently invent the triode tube amplifier.
  • Max Dieckmann and Gustav Glage use the Braun tube for playback of 20-line black-and-white images.
  • First jukebox with records enters the market.
  • Henry Harrison Chase Dunwoody files for a patent on a carborundum detector for crystal radios.
• 1907: Rosenthal incorporates a photocell into an image telegraph system.
• 1911: First film studios are established in Hollywood and Babelsberg.
• 1912: First radio receiver created using the Audion principle.
• 1913:
  • High-vacuum electron tubes replace early soft tubes, significantly improving performance.
  • Alexander Meissner patents radio-frequency feedback for electron-tube oscillators.
  • Arthur Berry patents manufacture of printed circuits by metal etching.
• 1915: Carl Benedicks conducts early research on electrical properties of silicon and germanium.
• 1917: Lucien Lévy develops a radio receiver using resonant circuit frequency tuning.
• 1919: Charlie Chaplin co-founds United Artists.
• 1920: KDKA in Pittsburgh begins regular commercial radio broadcasting.
• 1922: J. McWilliams Stone invents a portable radio; George Frost installs a car radio in a Ford Model T.
• 1923:
  • Manfred von Ardenne patents a multi-electrode vacuum tube used in Loewe Opta radio receivers.
  • Dénes Mihály patents a television scanning system using selenium cells.
  • August Karolus invents the Kerr cell for converting electrical pulses to light.
  • Vladimir K. Zworykin files a patent for the iconoscope TV camera tube.

1924–1959: From cathode ray tube to stereo audio and TV

• 1924: First radio receivers exhibited at the Berlin Radio Show.
• 1925:
  • Brunswick Records produces the Brunswick Panatrope record player with electronic pickup and amplification.
  • Electrical recording techniques using microphones and tube amplifiers enter series production in the US and Germany.
  • Leica 35mm camera introduced at Leipzig Spring Fair.
  • John Logie Baird performs an early mechanical television demonstration with 30 lines.
• 1926:
  • Fritz Pfleumer patents magnetic tape recording using paper coated with iron powder.
  • German State Railroad tests wireless telephony services on trains between Berlin and Hamburg.
  • John Logie Baird markets commercial mechanical television sets.
• 1927:
  • Philco introduces the Transitone car radio in Philadelphia.
  • First commercial sound films (The Jazz Singer) released using sound-on-disc synchronization.
  • Philo Farnsworth demonstrates the first fully electronic television system.
  • Baird demonstrates Phonovision, an early videodisc system using 78 RPM shellac records.
• 1928:
  • Fritz Pfleumer's magnetic tape patent is granted.
  • Dénes Mihály and Telefunken demonstrate early mechanical TV receivers in Berlin.
  • WGY in New York begins experimental regular television broadcasts.
  • Baird transmits television signals internationally from London to New York and demonstrates early color TV.
• 1929:
  • Curt Stille and E. Blattner develop steel-ribbon magnetic audio recording systems (Blattnerphone).
  • First sound film using optical sound premiered; Carl Froelich directs Germany's first sound film.
  • Manfred von Ardenne demonstrates Europe's first fully electronic flying-spot camera tube.
• 1931:
  • Alan Blumlein invents binaural sound ("Stereo") and two-channel disc recording methods.
  • RCA Victor introduces early 33⅓ RPM commercial LP records.
  • Manfred von Ardenne patents concepts for color television picture tubes.
• 1932: AEG and BASF begin industrial development of celluloid-based magnetic recording tape.
• 1933: Edwin Howard Armstrong demonstrates frequency modulation (FM) radio transmission.
• 1935: AEG and BASF present the Magnetophon K1 tape recorder at the Berlin Radio Show.
• 1936:
  • Berlin Olympic Games broadcast live using electronic television cameras.
  • Interlaced video techniques introduced to reduce image flicker.
• 1938: Werner Flechsig invents the shadow mask principle for color CRT television tubes.
• 1940: High-frequency bias technique for magnetic tape developed by Walter Weber, dramatically reducing background noise.
• 1948:
  • Edwin H. Land launches the first instant camera (Polaroid Model 95).
  • John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley at Bell Labs invent the transistor.
  • Peter Carl Goldmark at CBS introduces the microgroove 33⅓ RPM vinyl LP record.
  • Dennis Gabor invents holography.
• 1953: The NTSC color television standard is officially adopted in the United States.
• 1954: Ampex develops quadruplex videotape recording for broadcast television.
• 1956: Ampex introduces the VR-1000, the first commercially successful video tape recorder (VTR).
• 1958: Stereo phonograph records become commercially available.

See also

• Electronics
• History of electronic engineering
• List of electrical engineering journals
• List of electrical engineers
• Timeline of historic inventions
• Timeline of computing
• Computer History Museum

External links

• List of IEEE Milestones