The Rise of Electrical Engineers
In the beginning God said "Let there be light" so I presume that the first profession in the world was electrical engineering. When the Greek Philosopher Thales observed that when an amber is rubbed against fur, it could attract light pieces of materials like feathers, in this way he demonstrated the early discovery of the relationship of electricity and magnetism. But with such observation electrical engineering did not flourish during this period since ancient Greeks were are not too interested with experimental science, they were too busy on philosophy and metaphysics. It was not until the renaissance period that scientists gave enough attention to electrical phenomenon. For example Alesandro Volta proved that when two metals of different composition such as lead and zinc are submerged into a certain chemical, the electron will flow from lead to zinc and thus producing electricity, this is the birth of the battery. Micheal Faraday on the other, hand without the aid of mathematical equations demonstrated the law of electromagnetic induction in several ways. It was James Clark Maxwell provided mathematical explanations of the former to translate the idea. These are not but a few examples of the early research and discoveries of the electrical phenomena. During the 19th and 20th century the research and discoveries made by prominent electrical pioneers were being put into practical application in the form of different machine and device used in our home, industry, communication, transportation among others. These machines used the principle laid by the founders of electrical engineering to create products and innovations. Few names to mention who made significant contribution were Thomas Edison (electrical bulb), Nikola Tesla (transformer, AC system, electric motor) and William Shockley (transistor). Nowadays researchers of electrical engineering combined this discipline into other areas of science and technology to create more innovations. The areas of electrical engineering is very wide that covers power system, industrial control and instrumentation, communication, computer, electronics among others. Today the innovation of electricity is everywhere without which the current civilization is not possible. |
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