The invention of the battery generates renewed exploration of electricity. Imagine the excitement when early inventors realize that energy is all around them, in the air and in objects. If they can collect and store it, they can put this power to work.

The discovery of electromagnetism and the invention of the electromagnet send the sparks flying fast and furious. Is it possible to use this new force to move a lever or run a mill? Inspired by this question, a flurry of theories and experiments produce the electric motor and the telegraph, paving the way for the telephone, eclectic lights and even radio. Time and distance are overcome by human ingenuity, changing forever the way people work and play.

The power of electricity is unleashed!

• Electricity recognized as a source of energy that can be stored and used as power.
• Research focuses on domestic uses. Many electrical mysteries remain.
• The Industrial Revolution and growing financial and commercial interest expedite research.
• In 1847 Michael Faraday discovers that light is altered by a magnetic field; this leads to the invention of radio.

Key discoveries:

• Electromagnet and Induction Coil
  Battery and Generator
• Electric Motor and Light Bulb
• Telephone and Telegraph

Influential inventors and thinkers:

• Joseph Henry, Hans Christian Oersted, William Sturgeon
• Thomas Edison and Georg Simon Ohm

Gallery Two Highlights:

• Early Volta batteries
• Perpetual Motion machines
• Experimental electric light bulbs from Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory
• Wheatstone and Cooke 2-needle telegraph
• Telephone used in first transcontinental call