> A CBT PUBLICATION

' THE STORY OF

ELECTRICITY
 THE STORY OF
ELECTRICITY

By
A. K. Chakraborty
and
S. C. Bhattacharya

illustrated by Mrina! Mitra

Children's Book Trust, N e w Delhi

 'The Story of Electricity' won the first prize in
the non-fiction category in the Competition for
Writers of Children's Books held in 1983 by the
Children's Book Trust.
It is jointly authored by Dr. A.K. Chakraborty,
who is a Reader of Applied Physics in Calcutta
University, and S.C. Bhattacharya, a former Wire-
less Operator in the Indian Air Force.

Printed 1985
Reprinted 1987, 1989

© by CBT 1985
ISBN 8 1 - 7 0 1 1 - 2 8 9 - 3

Published by Children's Book Trust, Nehru House,

4Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi, and printed at
the Trust's press, the Indraprastha Press, New Delhi.
Wonders of electricity

"T
JL/ong ago there lived in Turkey a magician who
was gifted with miraculous powers. He could melt metal
without fire, produce light without oil. He had a
wonderful box. He could speak into it and his disciples
sitting at the other end of the world could hear
him...."
That is how a fairy tale written in the 19th century
begins. Generations of children must have been thrilled
by this account of wondrous feats. But no child today
will consider this a fairy tale or that magician a man of
miracles. All his magical powers are now within the
grasp of any man.
What performs those miracles today is known as
'electricity'. It is like the genie of Aladin's magic lamp.
Just as the Arabian giant, in obedience to his master's
3
command, accomplished the impossible in no time, so
also electricity has turned the incredible into common
place.
You press a switch, and a light brightens your room.
You speak into an instrument and the words reach the
far corners of the earth or even into infinite space.
Electricity can transmit not only words but also pic-
tures. It drives trains and trams. It makes computers
'think'. It can melt metal and freeze water. It can heal
and it can kill. With the aid of electricity man has
achieved much more in one century than he had been
able to in all the centuries before.
True, it cannot be a fairy tale, but how man learned
to use the power of electricity is a fascinating story.
And, though one can begin it with "long long ago," it
is a story without an end. For even as this is being
written, new discoveries are being made, and it has to
be left to someone in the future to write new chapters.

4
Thales and his discovery

It all began in ancient Greece. The first hero of our

story is Thales, a mathematician. He was a native of
Miletus, which was then a Greek colony, and he was
born about 600 years before Christ. Many tales are told
about this extraordinary man. It is said that a friend
once told him, "It is easy for an idle thinker to grow up
to be a philosopher; but to be a successful man of
business one needs much cleverness and industry."
Thales retorted, "A philosopher can achieve success
even in business if he wishes to. But a businessman
cannot be a philosopher however hard he may try."
To this his friend said, "Well, then show me that
you also can succeed in business."
Thales took up the challenge. It so happened that
for several years bad weather had affected the olive
crop, resulting in a great scarcity of olive oil all over the
country. Thales felt that the weather would be better in
the coming year, and production of olive ought to be
satisfactory. Acting on this conjecture, he hired all the
oil mills he could. When, as he expected, there was a
bumper olive crop, he bought olive cheaply, worked the
mills he had hired and sold the oil at a high price. He
made a fortune and proved that he was no idle
philosopher.
Thales took a deep interest in whatever excited his
curiosity, and he loved to experiment with every matter
that caught his attention. One day, in winter, when he
was at work, he saw on his table a piece of amber, a
kind of yellowish resin, covered with dust. He picked
up the amber, rubbed it on his coat to clean it and put
it back on the table. A great wonder awaited him. He
5
Thales conducting his experiment.
could not believe his eyes. A few small chips of wood on
his littered table had moved and were clinging to the
amber rod.
To make sure that what he saw was not an illusion,
he picked up the amber again and rubbed it on his coat.
Again he held it near the chips and again they moved to
the amber rod and stuck fast. Slowly he lifted the
amber with the chips sticking to it. Deep in thought, he
looked closely at the amber. He wondered if the amber
could also attract material other than wood. He made
experiments and found that the amber could, but it
acquired the property of attracting other material only
after it was rubbed.
The discovery excited Thales. He remembered the
legend of Magnus, the shepherd of Crete who, while
following his flock on Mount Ida, suddenly found that
he could walk no farther. He was unable to lift his feet.
What was the matter? Magnus noticed that the iron
studded soles of his boots were stuck to the rocky
surface of the hill. The rock was of the kind called
loadstone.
This stone has a wonderful property. It attracts
iron. All of you must have seen a magnet and have
noticed that it attracts things made of iron. The load-
stone is a natural magnet and it is found in many parts
of the world. It has all the characteristic properties of
an artificial magnet.
Thales knew much about the loadstone. The Greeks
called it 'magnetite' after Magnus, the shepherd. The
word 'magnet' in English is also derived from his name.
Thales knew that magnetite in its natural state attracts
iron. But amber acquired the power of attraction only
when it was rubbed with something else. Could there be
any relation between the natural property of magnetite
and the induced property of amber? He found no
answer to the question.
7
 Perhaps, Thales assumed, the power of attraction
acquired by amber was also a kind of magnetism.
Although he could not explain his assumption, he
recorded carefully all the results of his researches and
experiments. When Thales discovered the attractive
properties of amber he could not imagine that his dis-
covery would turn out to be one of the most valuable
and significant discoveries in the history of scientific
learning, that it would lay the foundation for the study
of electricity.

Dr. Gilbert, the Royal Physician

Centuries passed by and though many philosophers

after Thales pondered over this subject of magnetism,
no significant discovery relating to magnetism was
made till the time of Sir William Gilbert (1544-1603),
personal physician of Queen Elizabeth I. In 1600 A.D.
he published 'De Magnete' (about Magnets), in which
he recorded the results of his experiments of 17 years
and his theories about magnetism.
Dr. Gilbert had heard of Magnus and Thales when
he was young and was so impressed by their discoveries
that he decided to do his own research on the subject.
He found that not only amber but also such things as
sulphur, glass and wax became magnetic by friction and
attracted other materials. He also noticed that there
were many things which, when rubbed, would not
acquire any magnetic property. It was he who first
observed the characteristic difference between the
natural magnetic property of loadstone and the induced
magnetism of amber. Dr. Gilbert gave the magnetic
property of amber the name of 'electricity'. In Greek
amber is called 'elektron'.
8
 Dr. Gilbert experimented with various objects and
classified them according to their properties. He pre-
pared a list of materials that would become electrified
by friction and of those that would not. He drew up
another list of materials whose electric properties were
more powerful than those of others.
10 classify objects according to theii induced power
of attraction, he devised an instrument called the
'electroscope'. It was a very simple apparatus, with a
dry piece of straw hung in front. Dr. Gilbert would rub
different objects with fur or linen, hold them one after
another before this straw and carefully note down the
extent each attracted the straw. He could not ascertain
why and how an object acquired the power of attraction
by friction. But the results of his researches paved the
way to many scientific discoveries.
When Dr. Gilbert wrote his book, he did not
imagine that he would raise a controversy that would
last over generations to come. Nor that he would one
day be hailed as the father of the science of electricity.
Gradually Dr. Gilbert's book came to be known to
most European scientists. To many of them the theories
propounded by the ancient Greek philosophers and
scientists were the last word and they were unwilling to
accept new ideas. Yet some were fascinated by the
author's scientific vision. A few even began their
researches along Dr. Gilbert's line, but no significant
advancement was made in this field during the next
60 years.

Otto von Guericke, the Burgomaster

T h e man who, after Dr. Gilbert, made notable

discoveries about electricity was Otto von Guericke
9
(1602-86). He was the Mayor of Magdeburg, a city in
Germany. He was a very able administrator, but in
spite of his mayoral responsibilities, he found time for
scientific research.
The people of Magdeburg looked upon their Mayor
with suspicion. They believed that von Guericke was
devoted to witchcraft and was in league with the devil.
On seeing him in the street, many city dwellers would
hasten to keep themselves at a safe distance from their
burgomaster. Some of them considered him insane.
 The day von Guericke announced that he had
devised an instrument to create a vacuum, they had no
doubt that their Mayor's mental derangement was
complete. Could any sound mind conceive such an
absurd idea? Was it possible to suck away air from a
vessel? Aristotle, the great savant, had said, "Nature
abhors a vacuum." Was Guericke, then, refuting Aris-
totle? Who but a mad man could have such audacity?
Guericke was indifferent to what the people said
about him, but he became the topic of discussion here,
there and everywhere in the country. Rumours spread
and at last reached the ears of His Imperial Highness
Ferdinand III. The post of mayor was important and
the person in the mayoral chair should command the
respect of all citizens. The Emperor decided to visit
Magdeburg to check whether Guericke was as mad as
rumour made him out to be. In a letter to the Mayor
announcing his visit, he wrote, "I hear you have invent-
ed the art of creating a vacuum. And I hope you will
prove the justness of your claim."
On receiving such a message from the Emperor, von
Guericke was naturally worried. But within two weeks
he made all the necessary arrangements to receive the
Emperor. And the day Ferdinand arrived, the city of
Magdeburg was steeped in colour, with the streets gaily
decorated and houses and walls freshly painted. The
city dwellers, clad in their best clothes, lined the streets
to receive their royal guest.
A reception was held at the City Hall. All the elite
of the city were invited and there was food and drink
in abundance. The feast over, von Guericke stood up
and, without any introduction, said, "Presently I shall
demonstrate to you the operation of my new air pump.
I shall suck out all the air from a hollow spherical
vessel and create a vacuum."
The City Hall resounded with laughter. The
11
 Emperor looked at Guericke in some doubt. One of his
companions asked, "Won't there be any device to peep
into the sphere to see the vacuum?" Once more there
was loud laughter. Even the Emperor could not help
laughing.
Von Guericke remained calm. He said, "Not far
from here is a large open ground. There I will hold my
demonstration. Let us all go there."
The Emperor rode to the appointed place with
the Mayor. The others followed them in procession.
On reaching the lawn the city dwellers assembled by
the Emperor's side.
The Mayor then began his demonstration. He held
up two copper hemispheres, each fitted with a metal
ring, and showed that, by setting the two halves face to
face, they would form a sphere. He repeatedly put the
two hemispheres together to form a sphere and pulled
them apart to show how easily it could be done. Then
he brought his air pump, a metallic cylinder with a
spout on one side and a big handle on the other.
He again piessed the two halves of the copper
sphere together, connected the spout of the air pump to
a valve attached to one half, and declared, "Now I shall
suck out all the air from this round vessel."
The spectators watched silently as von Guericke
began moving the pump handle up and down. Within a
short time the movement of the handle slowed down.
One could see that the Mayor had to use considerable
force to operate it. When the handle refused to move,
von Guericke stopped. He was bathed in sweat.
Wiping his forehead, he looked at the Emperor and
said, "Your Majesty, I have sucked out all the air. A
vacuum has been created within this sphere."
Then, turning to the spectators, he said with a
pleasant smile, "One of our guests here wanted to know
if he could peep into it. He would see very little there,
12
for we cannot see everything with our naked eyes. Man
can see more with the light of intellect and reason than
with his physical organ of sight."
He went on to explain. "When the sphere was filled
with air, the internal pressure within the vessel and the
external pressure of the atmosphere remained equal and
they annulled each other. That is why it was easy
enough to pull the two halves of the sphere apart. Now,
there being no air within the vessel, the tremendous
pressure exerted by the atmosphere will hold the two
halves together so tightly that it will not be quite easy
to separate them."
Then he picked up the vessel by a ring and began to
shake it. All the spectators expected to see the two
halves go apart. They stuck firmly to each other. Then
von Guericke turned to the Emperor and said, "Your
Majesty, I would like to see if you can pull the two
hemispheres apart."
Ferdinand rose from his seat and von Guericke
handed the vessel to him. The Emperor held it firmly in
his hands and tugged mightily at the two rings but to no
effect. Ferdinand was a strong man. And when he
could not pull the vessel apart, the spectators were
astonished.
More wonders awaited them. Von Guericke made a
sign. At once, four powerful horses were brought
before him. Two horses were harnessed to each of the
two rings of the spherical vessel and, under the lash of
whips, they tugged at the vessel from either side. But it
did not split apart. Von Guericke made another sign
and four more horses were brought. This time eight
horses, four on either side, were engaged in this tug-of-
war, but the two halves of the sphere held together. At
last 16 horses, eight on each side, were harnessed to the
rings. This time the vessel split with a bang.
Emperor Ferdinand was highly impressed. He was
13
convinced of von Guericke's genius. The Emperor
congratulated the Mayor and told him that he should
carry on with his researches. He also said, "If you ever
make another such discovery, do not forget to let me
know. I expect to see you achieve many more successes
in the domain of science."
This was a memorable moment in von Guericke's
life. And it has a particular significance in this story of
electricity. Henceforth von Guericke could do his
researches and experiments freely and he turned to
electricity.
He read Dr. Gilbert's book through and through.
Having examined carefully the doctor's theories, he
began his own experiments. He observed that to ener-
gise amber or glass by rubbing them with fur or linen
was a clumsy and tiresome process and it yielded very
little electricity. After various experiments he devised
an apparatus that could generate a considerable amount
of electrical energy.
Von Guericke made a ball of sulphur, perforated it
in the middle, and then passed a metal rod through the
hole. Then he fixed a handle to the rod, so that, by
turning the handle, one could turn the sulphur ball
round and round. Von Guericke demonstrated that if
one held the sulphur ball with gloved hands and turned
the handle, the revolving ball would generate plenty of
electricity. The electrical energy thus produced remain-
ed concentrated within its source which, in this case,
was the sulphur ball. Von Guericke named it 'static
electricity'; and he called the instrument he ' invented
'electrostatic generator'. He also showed that the
sulphur ball, in its energised state, could attract paper,
chips of wood, thin metal sheets, feathers.
He also discovered that electrical energy could be
transferred from one object to another. It was he who
first noticed that a sheet of metal brought in contact
16
with an electrified sulphur ball acquired the property of
attracting other objects. After having experimented with
many different objects, von Guericke came to the con-
clusion that a thing could be electrified by being brought
in contact with another electrified object. In other
words, electrical energy could be transferred by contact.

Stephen Grey (1670-1736) and his experiments

T h e 'electrostatic machine' invented by Otto von

Guericke facilitated the researches and experiments of
later scientists. Half a century after his death another
significant invention was made in the sphere of electri-
cal science. The name of the inventor was Stephen
Grey.
Grey belonged to a lower middle class family of
England. He was greatly interested in science, but the
little amount of money he received as his pension was
not enough even for a bare living. So, it was hard for
him to buy the books and instruments he needed for
his experiments.
Luckily, he had a friend, Granvil Wehler, who was
rich and was also interested in science. Wehler had no
doubt about his friend's genius and was certain that
Grey would one day achieve undying fame. So he was
ready to give money to Grey for his experiments.
One day when Wehler was returning from an opera,
by chance he met Grey in the street. Seeing his friend
grave and sad, he asked, "What is the matter, Stephen?
Why do you look so glum? Is it toothache?"
"Granvil," Grey said, "to get rid of toothache, one
could get rid of one's teeth. But when a man's pain
rises from the deepest recesses of his heart and burns
his soul, what can he do?"
17
 Wehler could not understand what his friend was
driving at. But it occurred to him that what Grey
wanted was a sympathetic listener to whom he could
open his heart. Wehler put his hand on his friend's
shoulder and said, "Come to my house and I shall hear
all about your problem."
Wehler lived in a beautiful mansion at Otterden
Place in London and he took his friend there. As they
sat face to face, Wehler said, "Stephen, why are you so
broken-hearted? I have never seen you so downcast
before. What is the matter?"
Grey answered, "You know, my dear Granvil, I
was never eager to grow rich, never aspired to fame or
social status. I just wanted to comprehend the nature
of this world and, through experiments, to discover
some facts that would, perhaps, change the whole his-
tory of mankind. But a poor man like me can never
have his hopes fulfilled."
"Stephen, tell me all about your plans. I may be
able to help you."
"I wish to carry out some researches on electricity.
It is a wonderful power. Till now it has not been
possible to know its real nature. Yet, Granvil, I often
think this electricity will perform miracles some day. It
often occurs to me that once we can know the true
nature of electricity, the true nature of the universe will
reveal itself to us."
"I too am curious to know more about electricity,"
Wehler said. "I have plenty of money, but no brains. If
I had your gift of intellect, I would, perhaps, set up my
own laboratory and begin my own researches. I like
your plans. I like them because, in your hopes and
dreams, I hear the echoes of my own. So I give you an
offer. If you do not mind I shall make a suitable
laboratory for you in my own house. But, of course, on
the condition that you take me as your research
18
assistant. Do you agree?"
Overwhelmed with joy, Grey took his friend's hands
in hi5 and said, "Do you really mean it, Granvil?"
Granvil smiled and said, "Yes, Stephen. But do not
think I am spending money without any personal
interest in the matter. I have faith in your ingenuity. I
know you have a great future ahead of you. Given the
right opportunity, you will certainly make some valu-
able contributions to science. When you grow famous
as a scientist, I, as your assistant, shall go down into
history along with you."
A few months later the two friends were busy in
their laboratory. But what a laboratory! It had all the
appearance of a veritable cobweb. There was an over-
hanging network of threads tied up all around the walls
with metal hooks.
The two friends sat in two corners of the room.
Grey had a glass rod in his hand. One end of a long
thread was fastened to the glass rod and other was
attached to an ivory ball. Wehler was sitting beside his
friend with a board on which some feathers were
placed. Grey rubbed his glass rod with a piece of linen
and said, "Granvil, hold the feathers close to the
ball."
Wehler did as he was told. But the feathers showed
no sign of movement. Wehler was silent.
Grey grew impatient and asked, "Any result?"
"No," replied Wehler.
Grey rubbed the glass rod harder and harder, but to
no effect. At last he said in despair, "Granvil, there can
be no reason why it should not work. What then "
Wehler laughed and replied, "My friend, how can
you expect success to come to you so easily? Have
patience, think coolly and you will certainly be able to
spot the trouble. No more today, I pray you. Let us go
and sit beside the Thames."
19
 The year was 1729 A.D. It was a cold wintry night.
The time was about 8 p.m. Thick fog enveloped the
area. Grey tucked the collar of his overcoat round his
ears and set out for Otterden Place. He had a parcel
under his arm.
Unconscious of the bustle of the streets, he walked
thinking of the experiments he planned for the night.
For some months he had been trying to conduct elec-
tricity through long threads, but all his efforts had
failed. Now he had realized the cause of his failure.
Tonight he would not fail.
Shouts and curses, the tramp of horses and rattle of
speeding wheels nearby rudely made him aware of the
world around him. Sensing danger he jumped to a side
of the road. Mercifully for him and science, he escaped
being run over by a coach.
Grey realized that, if he thus remained buried in
thoughts while walking, he would sooner reach his
grave than his destination. He became more careful and,
holding his precious packet tightly, quickened his pace
and soon reached Wehler's mansion.
Wehler himself opened the door and said, "Come,
sit beside the fire and warm yourself." But Grey was so
excited with the thought of his experiments that he
heard not a word of what his friend said. He had no
time to idle away. He must put his theory to the test.
"Granvil," he said, "I have found the solution to
my problem. There was a serious flaw in our experi-
mental process. This time I am confident of success.
Come and help me."
The two friends hurried into their laboratory. Grey
untied his packet and took out a large reel of thread
and an ivory ball. Then he drew out a long cord from
the reel and, with the help of his friend, fastened it to
the wall from side to side. He tied one end of the cord
to the glass rod and the other to the ivory ball. He
20
examined thoroughly the points on the walls to which
the thread was fastened and said, "It is all right. Now,
hold the featheis near the ivory ball."
Wehler did that and Grey began to rub the glass rod
with a piece of linen. Within a few moments Wehler
cried out, "Stephen, you have done it! The feathers
have leaped up and are stuck to the ivory ball!"
With these words, Wehler announced to the world a
great and significant achievement. Now, for the first
time, man could transfer electrical energy from one
place to another.
Overwhelmed with joy, Wehler embraced his friend
and said, "Your success is astounding! Now tell me
how you did it. What was the flaw in our previous
experiments?"
The two friends sat before the fireplace. Grey said,
"Only this evening I could realize, by chance, the mis-
take we made in our experiments. The metal hooks that
we used for fastening the cords to the walls are them-
selves good conductors of electricity. So the electricity
generated in the glass rod was being bypassed to earth
through them before it could reach the ivory ball.
Having realized this, I fastened the thread to the hooks
with silk cords so as to avoid any direct contact bet-
ween the hooks and the thread. Silk being a non-
conducting material, it stopped the electric current from
bypassing through the metal hooks. So, this time, the
electricity produced in the glass rod could easily reach
the ivory ball through the long thread."
With Wehler's assistance and encouragement Grey
continued his researches and found out that some
materials were good conductors of electricity, while
many others were poor conductors.
The materials that prevent the flow of electric
current are known as insulators. These insulating
materials are now used for isolating or converting live
21
conductors. On the basis of the discovery made by
Grey, electrical wires, coated with rubber or plastic
materials, are being manufactured on a large scale.

Charles Dufay (1698-1739)

T h e next significant discovery was made by

Charles Dufay, a Frenchman. He observed that there
were two kinds of electricity. And he found that the
electricity produced in a glass rod when rubbed with
silk and that generated in a resin rod when rubbed with
fur are not homogeneal, not of the same kind.
Charles Dufay had observed that, if two glass rods
were rubbed with silk and then hung side by side on
silk cords, the rods repelled each other. And it was
'likes' that repelled. If a glass rod rubbed with silk
and a resin rod rubbed with fur, were hung side by side,
the two attracted each other. So Charles Dufay came to
the conclusion that the electricity of the glass rod and
that of the resin were different.
Let us electrify different objects by rubbing them
with different materials. Now, if we bring these electri-
cally charged objects close to the glass or the resin rods,
each of these objects will either attract or repel one of
the two rods, the glass or the resin.
So we see that the electricity of any electrical object
corresponds or, to use a more technical term, is homo-
logous either to the electricity of the glass rod or to the
electricity of the resin. We do not come across an
electrified object whose electric property is heterologous,
that is corresponds to the electric properties of both the
glass and the resin rods.
We may, therefore, conclude that there are only two
kinds of electricity. The electricity produced in a glass
22
rod rubbed with silk was called 'vitreous electricity' or
glass electricity. And the electricity of a resin rod
rubbed with fur was known as 'resinous electricity'.
Later, Benjamin Franklin named the first 'positive
electricity' and the other 'negative electricity'.

An accidental discovery

It was by accident that another important discovery

was made. PietervanMusschenbrock(1692-1761),apro-
fessor of Leyden University, was experimenting on the
possibility of storing electricity in water in a glass flask.
He had an iron rod with two silk cords. One end of a
metallic wire, attached to the iron rod, was passed
through the stopper of the flask.
The professor thought that, if the iron rod were to
be electrically charged, the current flowing through the
wire would electrify the water. And glass, being a non-
conductor, the electricity in the water would find no
way out. As the professor held the flask in one hand and
tried to pull the wire out of the iron rod, he received a
terrible electric shock. In trying to ascertain the cause
of this phenomenon, he invented, accidentally, an elec-
tric condenser for storing electricity.
The apparatus is known as Leyden Jar. It consists
of a cylindrical glass vessel lined inside and outside
with metal foil. A brass rod is passed through the cork
at the mouth of the jar. To the lower end of this rod
is attached a brass chain which keeps electrical contact
between the rod and the metal coatings inside the jar.
The Leyden Jar became popular in no time.
Professional magicians fired their cannons by igniting
gunpowder by the electricity stored in the Leyden Jar,
causing fear and wonder among their audience. Some
23
used it to give themselves or others electric shocks.
It is said that a French priest, Christophe Claire,
found it useful to demonstrate to some sceptical factory
workers his power to inspire divine feeling in others.
On a Sunday evening, just after prayer, sixteen of them
assembled, as they were asked to, in the courtyard in
front of the church.
Claire appeared carrying a box wrapped in red cloth
and two crosses dangling from it. The priest asked the
men to stand, hand in hand, in a circle. He then
approached them and asked two of the men to hold the
two crosses. The moment the two men touched them
all sixteen sprang up and were scattered about the
courtyard.
Whether the feeling this inspired was divine is not
known, but there was nothing divine in the power that
made the sixteen bedridden for days. Claire had con-
cealed within his box a small portable generator and a
Leyden Jar and just before approaching the workers
had turned the handle of the generator. The two crosses
were connected to the two electrodes of the jar and,
when the two men touched the crosses, a powerful
electric current began to flow through the human chain,
making them bounce.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-90) and electricity

Benjamin Franklin has made important contri-

butions to the science of electricity. He was a versatile
man, literary artist, politician, social worker and
scientist, all in one. In 1746 one Dr. Spence had shown
him a few experiments in static electricity and Franklin
grew interested in the subject. He repeated these experi-
ments and, observing the similarity between the sparks
24
of electricity he produced and lightning, he wrote a
thesis entitled, 'The similarity between lightning and
electricity'. In this he expressed the view that by means
of a suitable conductor the electricity of lightning
could perhaps be brought down to earth. When his
papers were read at the Royal Society meeting, the
members present laughed.
To give a fitting reply to this ridicule, Franklin
resolved to prove the truth of his theory by an experi-
ment. He made a big kite and on a cloudy day, he flew
it high in the sky. He tied a key to the cord of the kite
and held the key with silk lace over it to prevent elec-
tricity flowing through the cord from passing through
his body. Now, as he brought one end of another
conducting wire quite close to the key, a bright spark
occurred. Thereafter, by connecting the key to a Leyden
Jar, he was able to store in it a good amount of elec-
tricity. The experiment was dangerous and Franklin
was lucky to escape electrocution.
On the basis of this discovery, lightning arresters or
conductors were devised to protect building from
thunderbolts. The lightning conductor is a metallic rod,
with a number of sharp points, put on the roof of
buildings. The lower end of the rod is connected by
iron or copper wire to the earth. If there is a flash of
lightning, it can cause little or no damage to the
building because the electrical discharge is drained
away to" the earth through the lightning conductor.
Another significant contribution Franklin made is
his theory about the nature of electricity in material
objects. Before Franklin, an apothecary named William
Watson had expressed the view that every object con-
tained two kinds of electricity. Franklin studied the
implication of this and explained the reason why an
object became electrified by friction. He said that every
substance in its natural state contained equal quantities
25
Franklin's famous kite experiment
Franklin's famous kite experiment
of vitreous (of glass) electricity and resinous (of resin)
electricity. Matter being composed of two converse
electrical charges of equal amount, an object, in its
normal state, did not manifest any electric property. It
was only at the time of friction that the objects respond-
ed electrically to each other and became electrically
charged. Because glass electricity and resin electricity
neutralised each other's action, Franklin called the
former positive and the latter negative electricity.
It should be mentioned that these two kinds of
electricity are equally elemental. It is not that positive
electricity is richer in any special property than negative
electricity. Nor is it that negative electricity is deficient
in any particular property. It is only for convenience
that an international convention has been established
to call glass electricity 'positive' and resin electricity
'negative'.

How a skinned frog excited Galvani

F r o m Stephen Grey's researches man conceived

the idea of using electricity, but current produced by
the electrostatic generator was transient, that is, not
permanent. It was not possible to provide the necessary
electromotive force to perpetuate the flow of current in
a circuit. The scientist who first made a significant dis-
covery along this line was Luigi Galvani.
Dr. Luigi Galvani (1737-98) was a professor of
anatomy in Bologna, Italy. He was a specialist in
physiology and therapeutics. No one knows for certain
how he suddenly grew interested in electricity. But it is
said that one day, he hung the flayed carcass of a frog
on an iron railing by a copper hook to dry. As it swung
in the breeze, Galvani observed that the legs of the frog
28
shrank as they came in touch with the railing.
He watched this phenomenon keenly for sometime
and came to the conclusion that electricity was the
cause of the muscular contraction of the frog's legs. He
had heard of the fish called torpedo which kills or
disables its prey by electric shock. He also knew of the
ray fish that uses its electric organ for defence and to
catch its prey. Fishermen often talked about having
received severe shocks while catching these fishes. This
29
led him to the conclusion that there was electricity in
the body of an animal. He called it animal electricity.
He also expressed the opinion that it was this electricity
in the body of the frog that made it shrink at the touch
of the iron rail.
Though Galvani's theory of 'animal electiicity' was
discarded, the importance of his contribution to the
science of electricity cannot be denied. His discovery
paved the way to many new scientific researches which
led ultimately to the invention of the 'electric cell'.
Going into the history of science we see that many
wrong theories have helped the ad vancement of scienti-
fic learning. Just as scientists establish a truth by prov-
ing a theory, so also they discover new truths while
disproving one.

Volta's electric cell

C o u n t Alessandro Yolta (1745-1827) was a pro-

fessor of physics at the University of Pa via, Italy. After
repeating Galvani's experiment in his laboratory he
began his own research. He demonstrated that, if
Galvani's views on 'animal electricity' were accepted,
many other experimental truths of science could not be
explained.
Volta knew that in Galvani's experiment the skinned
frog was slung on the railing with a copper hook. He
observed that, if the copper hook was replaced by an
iron hook, the legs of the frog would not shrink at the
touch of the iron rail. So it was established that to effect
the contraction of the frog's legs two different metals
were necessary. If the electricity within the body of the
frog itself was really the cause of contraction, why
should two different metals be necessary to effect this?
30
 Volta drew the conclusion that in Galvani's experi-
ment the source of electricity was chemical reaction.
He said that two different materials coming in contact
with a proper solution caused this reaction. In Gal-
vani's experiment it was an aqueous (of water) solution
present within the body of the frog that helped the
chemical reaction producing electricity.
Volta did not stop here. To prove his theory he
produced electricity by using a suitable solution instead
of a frog's carcass. By this experiment was invented the
first man-made 'electric cell', or 'battery'. Volta found
that electric cells could be produced by placing paper
or cloth, moistened with sulphuric acid, within zinc and
copper sheets.
In order to strengthen the electric current thus pro-
31
duced, Volta made a stack or pile of copper and zinc
discs arranged alternately. Within each pair of discs he
placed a sheet of blotting paper soaked in sulphuric
acid. Electric current began to flow in the circuit when
the two ends of the conducting wire were connected to
two cell plates (electrodes).
The pile of metal plates devised by Volta is known
as the 'Voltaic pile.' The electric cell he made by
dipping a zinc rod and a copper rod into a vessel con-
taining dilute sulphuric acid is called the 'Voltaic cell'.
Volta's discovery ushered in a new era in the history
of the science of electricity. Many scientists tried to
improve the quality of electric cells and succeeded in
inventing various kinds of batteries. But none of these
could yield any considerable amount of electricity.
Nowadays geneiators are used to produce electri-
city. Portable batteries, however, serve many useful
purposes. They are used in torches, portable radio sets
and motor cars. Even today batteries are indispensable
to our telegraph and telephone systems. The apparatus
by which radio signals are transmitted from artificial
satellites is powered by electric cells. Ever since Volta
published his theory of electricity, the electric cell has
become an indispensable article in science laboratories.
Volta was more fortunate than most of his pre-
decessors. He achieved honour and fame during his
lifetime. A unit of electricity (potential difference) was
named after him.

The Royal Institution : Sir Humphry Davy

It was soon found that with a combination of many

cells very powerful batteries could be made. And from
those batteries very high and stable electric current
32
 Davy's apparatus for gas analysis.

could be obtained. In 1800 the Royal Institution of

London built such a high power battery. This was
largely due to the efforts of Count Benjamin Rumford,
the founder of the Institution, who was ever trying to
improve its research facilities.
Rumford was finding it hard to get the money need-
ed to buy equipment. Then he hit upon a novel plan.
He knew that the common people were eager to know
about the discoveries and inventions relating to elec-
tricity. Couldn't he exploit this popular curiosity to
raise funds? Would not people be willing to spend a
little money to listen to lectures on electricity and to
33
watch demonstrations of scientific 'magic'?
He drew up a programme for a lecture series and
announced it in the newspapers. This met with an
enthusiastic response. As days passed, more and more
people began attending the lectures. But Rumford
found that, though the scientists of the Royal Institu-
tion were learned, giving lectures to the lay public
needed more than learning. He started looking for a
suitable man, and, on the advice of a friend, appointed
Humphry Davy (1778-1829).
As Rumford took his seat among the audience to
hear Davy's first lecture one evening in 1801, he realiz-
ed that he had made a wise choice. Though only 23
years old, Davy was learned in the science of chemistry.
Above all, he knew how to capture the attention of his
audience, how to excite curiosity about things un-
known, how to make his lectures enjoyable. His
splendid oratory, accompanied by practical demons-
trations, enthralled his audience.
Davy's skill and novelty of expression made his
lectures popular within a short time. Many who heard
him once came again and again to hear him. Money
flowed into the Royal Institution. Humphry Davy
became a familiar name amongst the elite of London.
But Davy would not rest satisfied with his popu-
larity. He was a talented scientist and, being associated
with the Royal Institution, he found the opportunity to
work in its well-equipped laboratory. What attracted
him most was the Voltaic battery and he tried several
experiments with it.
One day, without any set purpose, he took the
two wires that were connected to the poles of the
battery and dipped them into a beaker of water. He
noticed, at once, bubbles rising at the ends of the
conducting wires. What caused these bubbles? He
remembered having read an essay written by William
34
Nicholson and Sir Anthony Carlisle. They too had sent
electric current through water and observed bubbles
rising at the two poles of the conductors. They assumed
that, during the passage of the electric current, water
discharged oxygen and hydrogen gases and this caused
the bubbles. But they could not come to any definite
conclusion.
Davy began experiments to ascertain the nature of
the gases and the cause of the bubbles. He took dis-
tilled water in a beaker and put into it two conducting
wires. Beneath the two dipped ends of the wires he
placed two test-tubes so that the gas produced in the
water in the beaker might accumulate in the test tubes.
Then he connected the wires to the poles of a battery
and let the electric current flow through the water. At
once, the gas produced in the water came out in the
form of bubbles and began to gather in the test-tubes.
Davy noticed that the gases were not accumulating in
the same proportion in the two tubes. The volume of
gas in one was twice as much as that in the other. After
letting the current flow through the water for some-
time, he managed to gather some amount of the gases.
Davy tested and analysed the gases, and found that
they were hydrogen and oxygen. He also observed that
the volume of hydrogen was twice as much as that of
oxygen, the exact composition of water. Davy realised
that electric current had caused this chemical dissocia-
tion of water into its two basic elements.
If water could be divided into its basic ingredients,
why not other matter as well? This was an epoch
making idea. As a chemical scientist, Davy knew that
there were materials whose ingredients could not be
separated by any process yet known. It occurred to him
that, perhaps, electricity could accomplish this. Davy
began new experiments and succeeded at last in sepa-
rating such materials as could never before be found in
35
their pure state. Davy's success began a new era of
chemical science. And a new method of employing the
mysterious power of electricity came into our hands.
The process invented by Davy is known as electro-
lysis and it is now being extensively used in the indus-
trial field. The process had enabled man to use metals
for various purposes and to extract metals at less
expense.
Metals have been used by man from the very early
days of human civilization. It was perhaps copper that
man first began to use, because copper was the only
metal that was available in its original state and could
be used without being refined. The ancient people knew
that copper could be forged into desired shapes and
made into weapons. They had also been using iron with
other metals. Yet centuries passed before man could
learn the process of extracting metals from minerals.
And even when it was learnt, the process of separating
metals from mineral ores was found to be laborious and
expensive. It was the science of electricity that changed
all that.

Extraction of metal : Charles Martin Hall

T o d a y we use aluminium for various purposes. It is

a light and shining metal and that is why it is more
useful than any other.
There is a great store of aluminium on the surface
of the earth. Scientists realized that the physical pro-
perty of aluminium had immense practical value. But
till about the end of the 19th century, production of
aluminium was very expensive. In 1852, the cost of
production of a pound of aluminium was nearly 550
U.S. dollars. That made it costlier than gold and silver.
36
 A few years later Henri de Ville, a French chemist,
invented a better and less expensive method of extract-
ing aluminium. In an exhibition in Paris, he displayed
before his spectators a number of aluminium rods. The
aluminium was produced at a cost of 50 dollars a
pound.
Napoleon III, the Emperor of France, visited that
exhibition and was fascinated by the aluminium rods.
De Ville presented to the Emperor an aluminium toy
for his little son. The Emperor placed an order for
plates, knives, spoons, made of aluminium, to be used
at royal banquets. Distinguished guests had aluminium
plates and cutlery, while others had to be content with
plates and spoons made of gold or silver!
The Emperor wanted to have weapons made of
aluminium. But at that time aluminium was not readily
available and there was no means of increasing its
production. Man had not yet mastered the art of
extracting pure aluminium from minerals. That was
why aluminium could not be extensively used like other
metals. Scientists, however, knew the potential of this
metal and many were doing research to find a way to
extract aluminium at low cost. The first scientist to
succeed in such experiments was Charles Hall (1863-
1914).
In 1880, Hall was a student of Oberlin College in the
city of Ohio. He took special interest in chemistry and
spent much of his time in the chemical laboratory. One
day, one of his professors casually remarked, "The
man who can invent a method of producing aluminium
at low cost will have done a great service to mankind
and become a man of wealth." Charles Hall decided
that he would be that man.
After graduation from Oberlin College, Hall went
home and talked to his father about his plans for
research. His father, sure of his son's genius, asked him
37
to go ahead. Charles Hall built his working shed in the
backyard of their house, installed the equipment he
needed and started his experiments. Working day and
night he was able to find within nine months a simple
and inexpensive method of producing aluminium with
the aid of electricity.
Hall's process was to melt aluminium oxide and
send an electric current through the molten metal,
causing a chemical dissociation. The oxygen liberated
from the mineral gathered round one of the electrodes,
while pure aluminium accumulated at the bottom of the
other electrode.
With the advent of this electrolytic process of
extracting aluminium, the price of aluminium began to
fall. As a result of Hall's achievement, aluminium no
longer remained the metal of the rich. Things made of
aluminium began to be used in every household.
Today, not only aluminium but also other metals,
such as copper, lead, zinc, are being extracted and
refined by electrolysis. Another important application
of the electrolytic process is what we call electroplating,
that is, coating of iron, copper, tin and other metals
with nickel, chromium, zinc, gold or silver. Such a
coating on iron prevents its rusting.
It was known from Volta's discovery that electricity
could be produced by chemical reaction. And Davy's
researches had shown that just as chemical reaction
causes electric current, so also electric current can
cause chemical reaction. Now, Charles Hall had gone a
step further.
After them other scientists made significant dis-
coveries in close succession. As a result the actual
relation between electricity and magnetism became
clear.

38
Magnetism and electricity : Hans Oersted

F r o m olden times man had been thinking of the

wonderful magnetic property of the loadstone. But the
cause of magnetism was not known. Many scientists
assumed that magnetism and electricity were inter-
related. One day, in 1820, in a classroom at the Uni-
versity of Copenhegen, it was proved accidentally that
they were not wrong in their assumption.
Professor Hans Christian Oersted (1777-1851) was
explaining to his students the functions of the various
components of a battery that was on the table before
them. He connected a wire to the two poles of the
battery to demonstrate how electric current was
flowing through the conducting wire.
On the table was a small compass. It was not in any
way related to their topic of discussion that day. The
compass happened to be just beneath the wire connect-
ed to the battery. Suddenly Oersted noticed that the
needle of the compass, instead of pointing to the north,
was pointing to the east. He could not believe his eyes!
He disconnected the wire from the battery. Instantly
the compass needle swung several times, then stopped,
pointing steadily to the north. Oersted was astonished.
Had he really seen the needle pointing to the east?
Could electric current have had an effect on the
compass?
The young students in the room looked at him in
surprise as he stopped what he was saying about the
Voltaic cell in mid-sentence. He appeared distraught.
They started whispering and Oersted suddenly realized
where he was. It was impossible for him, that day, to
take his class. He told his pupils, "Let us stop here
today. We shall discuss the rest tomorrow."
The moment the students left the classroom, he
39
took up the compass. Was the compass all right? It
was. The needle was pointing steadily to the north. He
connected the wire again to the two poles of the battery
and held the compass close to the wire. No, his eyes
had not belied him. Just as electric current began to
flow through the wire, the needle flung itself away from
the true north. He also observed that if the direction of
the electric current was changed, the needle of the
compass changed its direction.
Highly excited, the Professor ran from one class-
room to another calling to his colleagues to come to
his laboratory. Seeing him thus excited, his fellow pro-
fessors knew that he must have made a very important
discovery. They came and assembled in his laboratory.
Prof. Oersted repeated the experiment before his
colleagues. All of them, were amazed. It was proof that
there was magnetism in electric current.
Oersted published the results of his experiment. The
news of his discovery soon spread far and wide and
reached Andre Ampere, professor of a polytechnic
college in Paris.

Ampere and his electromagnet

A n d r e Marie Ampere (1775-1836) was a very sad

and lonely man. Never could he forget a dreadful night
of his boyhood. He was only 14 then. The family had
just finished supper and Andre was absorbed in his
studies. All of a sudden he heard an outcry. A group of
rebel soldiers broke into their house and dragged
Andre's father away. All his entreaties and all his
mother's tears were in vain. Andre's father never came
back. He was one of the numberless men and women
who weie the victims of the guillotine during the
40
French Revolution (1789-92).
The tragic death of his father changed Andre over-
night. From his childhood, his father had been his only
companion and playmate. Andre's father could discern
in his son the possibility of a great future. So he tried to
give his son what opportunities he could for the full
flowering of his genius. He even helped Andre in his
studies. Along with other subjects he taught him
Greek and Latin.
But Andre took no special interest in these classical
languages. He was in love with mathematics. Though
Andre's father could not help him much in his favourite
subject, he bought his son many valuable books on
mathematics. Andre began to learn on his own. As all
the good and dependable books on mathematics were
written in Latin, he learnt that language.
After his father's death, it was he who became the
main support of their family. He began to earn money
by teaching children mathematics in their houses. After
his day's toil he would pursue his own studies. He grew
learned in mathematics, physics and chemistry.
He married at the age of 20. Some time later, he
joined a school in Lyons as a teacher of physics and
chemistry. But even then he was absorbed in the study
of mathematics. Within a few years he published his
first book, 'Considerations on the Mathematics of
Gambling.' In the book he presented his theory that a
habitual gambler would surely be a loser in the long
run. The subject he treated in his book was not one to
attract academicians, but the manner in which he
presented his mathematical arguments highly impressed
many of the distinguished mathematicians of his time.
In 1804 came another shock to Andre Ampere. His
wife died. He was only 29 then. A year after that
Ampere left his job at the polytechnic school and went
to Paris, where he joined a college as a professor.
41
 When he read Oersted's thesis, it excited his interest
in magnetism and he began his researches. Within a

short time Ampere discovered that when electric

current flowed through a conductor, its magnetic effect
could be felt all round the wire itself. In other words, a
magnetic field was created around the path of the
42
electric current.
He also observed that when electric current was sent
through two parallel wires in the same direction, the
two wires attracted each other. And, if the direction of
one current was changed, the two conducting wires
repelled each other. Then, in order to determine the
relation between the forces of attraction and repulsion
with reference to the value or strength of the current, he
worked out a mathematical equation which is even now
used by scientists.
Ampere also showed that the magnetic field around
the conductor was circular. This phenomenon led him
to the assumption that, if the conducting wire could be
twisted and turned into a loop, the intensity of the
magnetic field through the loop would increase. Ampere
experimented with his idea and proved it beyond all
doubt. Then he wound the conducting wire spirally
into a coil and succeeded in creating a very powerful
magnetic field at the centre of that coil.
Thereafter Ampere invented the process of making
an artificial magnet. He noticed that an iron rod placed
within the centre of a coil of insulated conducting wire
turned into a powerful magnet. This artificial magnet
was much more powerful than a natural magnet.
A magnet thus artificially made is called electro-
magnet. Through his experiments Ampere was able to
show that for making artificial magnets bars of soft
iron were more suitable. Such an iron rod, placed
within a coil of wire through which electric current was
flowing, instantly became a magnet. But. the moment
the circuit was broken and the current stopped flowing,
the iron rod lost its magnetism. In other words, soft
iron became a temporary magnet under the influence of
electric current.
Ampere saw that for magnetising a steel rod high
electric current was necessary. Once magnetized, a steel
43
rod retained its magnetism even after the electric
current flowing through the coil was stopped. Thus
electric current turned a steel rod into a permanent
magnet.
The application of electrical science on a wide scale
began with the discovery of the electromagnet. The
artificial magnet is now being used not only in various
electrical instruments but also for generating electricity.
The electromagnet serves many of our household
needs. A visitor to our house presses a button at the
door and an electrical bell within announces his arrival.
The telephone rings and draws our attention to one
who is far away. The action of electric bells and tele-
phones depends on the property of the electromagnet
But the most wonderful use of the electromagnet is in
transmission of messages to distant lands. This system
of transmitting messages is known as telegraphy.

Samuel Morse and his telegraphic code

T i l l the middle of the 19th century, news was sent

from one place to another through letters and news-
papers carried by horse-drawn carriages, stage coaches
and, where possible, by railway trains. These coaches
were slow and messages would take days, weeks or even
months to reach their destination.
With the advent of electricity, many scientists had
thought of the possibility of using it to send messages
quickly and several carried out experiments to that end.
But they did not succeed in their endeavours. The man
who did was not a scientist but a painter.
His name was Samuel Finlay Breese Morse (1791-
1872). As a painter he enjoyed a good reputation in
America. Many distinguished men and women came
44
to him for their portraits. Even President Monroe had
his portrait done by Morse. But few were to remember
him as a painter.
After graduating from Yale, Morse told his father
45
 of his desire to become an artist. His father was a
congregational minister and he was rather disappointed.
But he yielded to his son's entreaties and sent him to
London to take lessons in painting. He was not able to
give him much money and Morse had to spend a few
years in London in great poverty. Nevertheless, he
worked hard and became a good painter.
Morse went to Italy in 1829 to acquaint himself
with the artistic tradition of that country and the styles
of the great Italian painters. After a few years he
decided to return to America. On October 1, 1830, he
embarked on a vessel named Sully and set out on his
journey home. The voyage not only changed Morse's
career, but brought about a significant change in the
history of human civilization.
At the dining table in the ship, some of Morse's
fellow passengers began to discuss electricity. They
talked about the experimental efforts made to invent a
system to transmit messages by means of electricity.
Several of them were learned in science and described
various instruments that were being tried.
Morse listened to their discussion with eager atten-
tion. He knew very little about electricity. But as he sat
listening to them he thought what a wondrous thing it
would be io be able to send messages instantly from one
end of the earth to the other. And it occurred to him,
'Why can't I try just once? If I try, maybe I would
succeed in inventing telegraphy?'
He remembered the first letter he had written to his
father and mother on reaching London: "Just as I sit
here to write to you, a very strange and impracticable
idea haunts my mind—O, that my words would reach
you in an instant! I guess you are eagerly and impa-
tiently waiting for my news and are ill at ease to think
of my safety and well being. I am quite safe, hale and
hearty—O, if I could only convey these words to you
46
this very moment! But, alas! that is not to be! This
message of mine will take no less than four weeks to
reach you."
Morse gathered as much information as he could
about electricity from his fellow passengers at the
dining table. The more learned among them explained
to him matters related to electrical science and dis-
cussed in detail the functions of the electric cell and
electromagnet.
Morse rose from the dinner table and went to his
cabin with an idea slowly taking shape in his mind. He
knew it was presumptuous of him to hope to succeed
where specialists had tried and failed. But the idea
possessed him.
For days thereafter, he confined himself to his
cabin, thinking how he could test his own theory. He
drew sketches of all the devices he thought of. Within a
few days he could formulate a method of sending sig-
nals through a wire with a device using the magnetic
effect of electricity.
Morse decided to pass an electric current, at requir-
ed intervals, through a closed circuit in order to ener-
gise an electromagnet which, by its actions, would bring
a pencil into contact with a moving sheet of paper. The
pencil was to imprint dots and dashes produced by
electrical impulses of different duration.
He devised an alphabetical code by a combination
of dots and dashes. Each of the different combinations
of these dots and dashes would symbolise a letter or
figure of the English alphabet and numerals. All the
way to America, Morse sat in his lonely cabin thinking
of his telegraphic instrument. By the time his ship
berthed, he had invented what came to be known as the
Morse Code.
On reaching America Morse became successful as a
painter, but he refused many alluring offers so that he
47
 Morse's first design for a telegraph apparatus.

could devote his whole time to his research. For a long

time he worked, with batteries, iron bars and levers.
But the road to success was not easy. The first instru-
ment he devised did not work. He went on making
changes and alterations in his apparatus till at last he
realized his dream. He was able to send signals through
electric wire from one end of his laboratory to the
other.
For a public demonstration of his telegraphy, he
needed money, and that was not easy to get. Metallic
wire was costly and he needed miles of it. The other
materials required were also expensive. He could find
no sponsors. Morse continued his experiments without
48
anyone to help him and soon became destitute.
Then fortune smiled on him. A number of Senators
and influential men, realizing the importance of his
discovery, managed to get him a public grant for a
demonstration of his apparatus.
A 40-mile-long cable was laid between Washington
and Baltimore. March 24, 1844, was the day set for the
demonstration before a group of experts selected by the
government. Morse sat in Washington, at the end of
his telegraph line, and Vail, his assistant, at the other
end in Baltimore.
A tense, silent group watched as Morse took his
seat before his telegraph machine. When the machine
produced a sound, 'click, click, click', Morse began to
send this signal, in his own code: "What hath God
wrought?" Having transmitted his message, Morse left
his seat.
Within seconds Morse's receiving apparatus came
to life. The pencil attached to the receiver began to
print on the paper, 'dot, dash, dash', representing the
letter 'W'. And the entire signal, "What hath God
wrought?" was inscribed in code on the paper. Morse
had wrought a revolution in communication!
Shortly thereafter, cables were laid between several
cities in America. Later the telegraph system was
introduced in other parts of the world as well.
It made its appearance in India in 1851, when the
first telegraph cable was laid between Calcutta and
Diamond Harbour.

Graham Bell invents telephone

T h e telegraph had come to be and scientists were

trying to improve on it. Among them was a young man
49
 named Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922). He was
studying the possibility of sending through the teleg-
raph line several messages at the same time.
Bell did not succeed in improving the system of
telegraphy. But he accidentally came by another bright
possibility. It occurred to him that, if sound could be
transmitted as dots and dashes, the human voice could
also be sent to distant places by electric cable.
Bell was born in Scotland. Both his father and
mother were teachers of philology and phonetics.
Along with his scientific studies, he also learnt much
about the tonal characteristics of the human voice, the
different sounds produced by such vocal organs as
tongue and lips.
His two brothers died of tuberculosis. When Bell
showed the symptoms of the same disease, his parents
decided to take him to a healthier place. They left
Scotland for Canada and settled in the city of Ontario.
Bell soon regained his health and went to Boston to
join a school as teacher of philology. It was while he
was there that Bell became interested in telegraphy.
He set up a laboratory in two rooms at his house
and began to spend all his leisure hours with his friend,
Watson, doing experiments. One day Watson was
working a telegraph transmitter in one room of the
laboratory, while in the other room sat Bell with the
receiver. One of the metal plates of the transmitter was
not working satisfactorily and Watson moved it back
and forth a couple of times.
Hardly had he done so when Bell came rushing into
Watson's room excitedly and asked, "What were you
doing, Watson? I heard a clattering noise in my receiv-
er!" Watson was astonished. He told Bell what he had
done.
"Do that again, Watson," cried Bell, rushing back
to the telegraph receiver in the other room.
50
 Watson again jerked the metal sheet to and fro.
Instantly there was a clatter in Bell's receiver.
"Watson!" Bell shouted excitedly, "I bet we can
send any sound through a wire by means of electricity."
51
 Bell found that, if a thin iron plate placed within a
magnetic field was made to vibrate, the vibration would
disturb the magnetic field. If such a thin plate or
diaphragm vibrated near an electromagnet, the inten-
sity of the field around it would wax and wane alter-
nately. This was the principle Bell made use of in his
speech machine.
When a man speaks before a transmitter, the dia-
phragm placed near an electromagnet vibrates to the
sound wave. And its vibration causes a fluctuation in
the magnetic field, inducing an electric current in the
wire wound about the magnet. This current, upon
reaching a receiving apparatus, causes its diaphragm to
vibrate by similarly fluctuating the nearby magnetic
field. The nature of this electric current will depend on
the acoustic characteristics of the speaker's voice.
The electric current of a fluctuating intensity and
frequency generated by the transmitter is sent to the
receiver through another electromagnet. The vibration
caused in the diaphragm of the transmitter by the
impact of a voice will produce exactly the same vibra-
tion in another diaphragm placed within the receiving
apparatus. That is how the diaphragm of the receiver
generates in the air a sound wave which is exactly the
same as the sound wave produced by the speaker's
voice.
On the basis of this theory, Bell and Watson tried
for years to invent an electric speech machine. Their
initial efforts failed. Yet they continued their endeavour
to improve their instrument. One day, again accident-
ally, they achieved their objective.
That was on March 10, 1897. Bell was experimenting
with the transmitter of his speech machine in one room
and Watson was in the other room, sitting in front of a
receiver. The door between the two rooms was shut. On
Bell's table lay a voltaic battery. In a careless moment,
52
 Bell's magnetic telephone.

the battery turned over and toppled from the table.

Some acid spilt on the floor and stained Bell's clothes.
"Mr. Watson, come here at once," Bell shouted.
As the door between the rooms was closed, Watson
could not have heard Bell's shout directly. However, he
heard it clearly. The sound had come from the receiver!
Astonished and excited, Watson rushed into the
adjoining room and cried out, "Mr. Bell, your speech
machine is working. I heard your voice over the
receiver!"
Bell had invented the telephone. But again it was al-
most by accident that the invention came to the world's
notice. On the anniversary of American Independence,
a great exhibition was arranged at Philadelphia.
53
 Among the exhibits on display was Bell's telephone.
The day on which the exhibits were to be judged and
selected for awards was a Sunday. That day special
guests were allowed to attend the exhibition. Among
them was Don Pedro, Emperor of Brazil, who was on a
tour of America. The judges walked about looking at
the things displayed in different stalls.
Time passed by and, in the heat of summer, all
grew tired. Bell realized that it would not be possible
foi the judges to see everything at the exhibition. They
would not have time even to look at his telephone.
Disappointed, he was about to leave the exhibition
when he heard a voice calling, "Mr. Bell!" He turned
and saw the Emperor stepping towards him with a
smile on his face.
Years earlier, Emperor Pedro had visited the school
in Boston where Bell was a teacher. There, for a long
time the two had discussed matters concerning educa-
tion of the dumb. The Emperor remembered Bell.
Bell showed him his invention and the Emperor
brought it to the judges' attention. They were as
impressed with the apparatus as the Emperor.
One by one, all of them tried it. Thereafter the
judges had nothing, to judge, nothing to decide. Bell's
telephone was awarded the first prize.
Calcutta again has the distinction of being the first
city in India to introduce the telephone system. A
50-line exchange was established in Calcutta in 1881,
about 30 years after telegraphy made its debut.

Michael Faraday and his discoveries

It was the voltaic battery that made Bell's invention

possible. But the power a voltaic battery yielded was
54
limited. In the industrial field, man had to explore other
more powerful sources of electricity. A high-power
generator of electricity was made possible on the basis
of a theory propounded by Michael Faraday (1791-
1867).
Faraday was born in a poor family. So, even at a
tender age, Faraday had to go out in search of a living.
He got himself appointed as a page boy in a book stall.
Fortunately, his master, Ribean, was kind. After about
a year, he took Faraday as a paid apprentice in the
trade of book binding.
But Faraday was more interested in the contents of
a book than its cover. He had a great fascination for
science. The boy read all the books on physics and
chemistry that came to him for binding.
One day, one of their clients was talking to Ribean
about the brilliant lectures Sir Humphrey Davy was
delivering on electricity. Faraday happened to be
standing nearby.
"Mr. Ribean," said the client, "I am going to attend
Davy's lectures. I have an extra ticket. You may come
with me."
"Thank you", Ribean replied. "But I know nothing
about science and so will not be able to enjoy lecture on
matters of science." Then, pointing to Faraday, he said,
"Take this boy with you. He loves science. And he has
read all the books on electricity that I have in my shop."
Faraday's eyes sparkled as he looked at Ribean.
"All right, I shall take the boy with me," he said.
Faraday was delighted to have this unexpected
opportunity to hear the lecture of a renowned scientist.
That day, and on three other subsequent evenings, he
listened to Davy's lectures. He took notes on each and,
in his spare time, recorded the details of the lectures.
Having set down the notes with his own comments on
each point, he bound them into a volume.
55
 After Faraday's apprenticeship was over, he found
a j ob as book-binder. But his new master was not as
kind and sympathetic as Ribean. Faraday found that
he had neither the time nor the opportunity to study as
56
before. Annoyed with the rudeness of his new master,
he decided to give up book-binding. But he had to find
another job.
Suddenly he remembered Humphrey Davy. But
what would an eminent scientist like Davy have to do
with a poor book-binder like him? After ruminating
for some days, he decided to try his luck.
He wrote to Davy. With his letter he sent the bound
volume of the notes and comments he had made on the
four lectures he had attended. Days, weeks and months
passed, but there was no response from Davy. Faraday
was disappointed. 'Why should a great scientist like
Davy bother about a letter written by a poor young
man like me?' he asked himself.
On December, 1812, on Christmas Eve, a coach
came and stood before Faraday's place of work. A man
alighted and enquired about Michael Faraday. When
Faraday came out, the man handed him a letter. With
trembling hands, he opened the envelope and read the
letter.
It was more a note than a letter. But, what a wealth
of joy it brought to his sad and weary heart! It was
from Davy and it said: "The proof you have given me
of your self-confidence and your tenacity of purpose
has made me glad. This testifies to your zealous interest,
your fine memory and your great attentiveness. I am
going out of London for some days and I shall not be
able to come back and settle down here before the end
of January. Any time thereafter, I shall be eager to
meet you. It shall give me immense pleasure to be of
any help to you. I wish it would be within my power."
Towards the end of January, soon after his return
to London, Davy sent word to Faraday, asking him to
come and see him at the Royal Institution. Faraday
met him, but Davy gave him no promise.
Faraday was again in despair. Was he destined to
57
 remain a book-binder all his life? But about a month
later, he received another letter from Davy saying that
Faraday could, if he wished, join the Royal Institution
as an assistant. Faraday joyously accepted the offer.
Davy had made many significant contributions to
the science of electricity. But his best contribution was,
perhaps, the opportunity he gave to Faraday to work
at the Royal Institution. Davy himself was aware of
this. Once a journalist asked him, "What, in your
own opinion, is your greatest discovery?"
"It is Michael Faraday," was the prompt reply.
Faraday had to perform many jobs apart from his
routine duties. He had to keep the laboratory instru-
ments clean and be at the beck and call of his superiors.
But he was happy to have the opportunity to work in
an environment of his choice. Now he could devote
much time to his studies and experiments.
The subject of electromagnetism excited his special
interest after he learnt about the work and achieve-
ments of Oersted and Ampere. He repeated, in his own
way, the experiments of the two great scientists and
made other experiments to test his own ideas.
Davy was greatly impressed by Faraday's devotion
and irgenuity. He began to guide Faraday in research.
As days passed by, Faraday's reputation grew. From
the post of laboratory assistant, he was raised to
membership of the institution. After Davy's death in
1829, Faraday continued his researches and experi-
ments independently.
A particular idea began to haunt his mind. If
electricity could produce magnetism, why cannot
magnetism produce electricity? In 1831, in the course
of an experiment, Faraday realized that he was not
wrong in his assumption. He observed that an electric
current was induced in a coil of wire placed within a
fluctuating magnetic field. The discovery was of
58
immeasurable significance. Based on this principle
electric generators capable of producing immense
electric power came to be made.
Sir Robert Peel was Prime Minister of Britain at
that time. Faraday had occasion to explain to Peel the
principle underlying his electrical theory. He gave a
demonstration as well. He connected a galvanometer
to a coil of wire and showed that, if a bar magnet was
swung round the coil, the needle of the galvanometer
also swung in response to the movement of the magnet.
But that made no impression on Peel- He commented
in a disparaging tone, "I have just seen that a needle
moves when a magnet is moved about. But what useful
purpose will this discovery of yours serve our country?"
In reply Faraday only said, "No one can foretell
what a newborn baby will grow up to be. Even so, my
discovery may, some day, accomplish the impossible.
It may be that, by making practical use of my inven-
tion, your government will, in the near future, realize
a large amount of money by way of taxes from the
people of this country."
It was not long before Faraday's prophecy came to
be fulfilled. The generators or dynamos by which
electrical energy is produced nowadays work on
Faraday's principle of electromagnetic induction. Apart
from this theory, he made several other significant
contributions, especially his principles of electrolysis.
In the history of electrical science, 1831 is a signi-
ficant year. That was the year in which Faraday found
the process of electromagnetic induction. The same
year, Joseph Henry, a teacher of Albany Academy,
New York, made the same finding on his own. For
many years he had worked to improve the electro-
magnet. The electromagnet he built for the Yale
College laboratory was so powerful that it could lift
1600 kilograms and that too by means of electric
59
current obtained solely from a voltaic battery!
There is difference of opinion about who first built
an electric generator or a dynamo. According to some
the credit goes to Faraday. Others say it should go to
Henry.
In modern times a huge amount of electric power is
being used to operate various machines, to drive elec-
tric trains and trams, to light houses and streets.
Modern power houses are equipped with enormous
generators driven by turbines which are rotated by the
pressure of steam or water.
Steam turbines are now being used to drive thermo-
electric generators, while, in the hydro-electric centres,
the armatures of the generators are rotated by water
turbines.
In steam turbines, coal is burnt to heat water in a
boiler and turn it into steam. The steam is directed by
jets against blades of the turbine. The pressure exerted
by the steam, kinetic pressure as it is called, sets the
turbine in motion.
In the thermo-electric system, only a portion of the
total mechanical energy applied to the turbine of the
generator is converted into electrical energy. In a
hydro-electric generator, it is the pressure of water that
rotates the turbine.

Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)

Generation of electricity was no longer a problem.

But it was yet to be brought to the house to be the
common man's genie. The man who did that was
Thomas Alva Edison.
Edison was born in Milan, Ohio (America), on
February 11. Though he became one of the greatest
60
inventors the world has ever seen, he received little
or no formal education. He attended primary school
for only three months or so. His mother took him out
of the school when she heard that one day his teacher,
after beating and scolding him, had said, "You are a
veritable dunce. You will do nothing in life."
Edison's mother, a teacher herself, started educating
him. The result was astonishing. Edison grew more and
more attentive to his studies. With unusual eagerness
and interest he began to learn many subjects.
When he was only 12, he began to look for a job.
A new railway line had just been laid between Port
Huron and Detroit and Edison applied to the railway
authorities for permission to sell newspapers and food
to passengers.
As Edison was very young, his application was
rejected. But he was persistent and, at last, was
given permission to be a vendor. Not only could
he earn a good deal, but also find much time for his
studies.
As the train usually stopped at Detroit for five or
six hours, he became a member of a public library
there. He began reading books on various subjects.
What interested him most was chemistry. He made up
his mind to be a chemist.
This meant that he had to do experiments. With the
permission of the train conductor, he set up a labora-
tory in a luggage van. All went well till one day a bottle
filled with chemicals tumbled down and the van caught
fire. At this the conductor flew into a rage and threw
away all the chemicals and instruments in the labora-
tory. It was no longer possible for Edison to have a
laboratory in the train. So he set up one at home, and
resumed his experiments.
Edison also got interested in telegraphy. Once he
asked a telegraph operator, "Can you tell me how, in
62
 this telegraph system, a message is conveyed through a
wire?"
The operator said, "Suppose the telegraph line is a
dog with a very, very long body and the distance
between its head and its tail is a few hundred miles.
Now, when somebody pulls at the dog's tail, its head
begins to bark. That is how a message goes from one
end to the other end of the cable."
Edison asked, "Well, but how does the signal come
from the tail up to the head?"
The operator grew annoyed and said, "Nay, I can
tell you no more about it."
But there were books and magazines to give Edison
more reliable information about telegraphy and he read
all he could. He also laid a telegraph line between his
house and a friend's. After a long trial the two friends
succeeded in exchanging messages through the wire.
When he was barely 16, he did a heroic deed that
brought him the chance to become better acquainted
with telegraphy. His train had stopped at a wayside
station and he was standing on the platform when he
noticed a boy of two or three playing on the railway
track. He was in imminent danger of being run over by
wagons that were being shunted on the line. Edison
flung himself on to the track, picked up the child and
managed to jump clear with hardly a second to spare.
The boy's father happened to be the telegraph
operator at the station and on learning of Edison's
interest in telegraphy, offered to teach him.
Edison readily accepted the offer and within three
months became an expert telegrapher. He gave up the
job of vendor and got himself employed as a part-time
telegraphist. Later he was posted as operator at Strat-
ford, Canada. Edison was happy with his new job.
Having been put on the night shift, he had all day to
continue studies and experiments.
63
 To make sure that the night operators stayed
awake, the authorities had ruled that each should send
a code message to the head office every half an hour.
For Edison, the code signal was the number six in
Morse. Edison found this annoying and soon made a
device to transmit automatically his code number to
the head office at the required intervals. It worked well.
Before long, the matter became an open secret. And the
telegraph authorities were not amused, even if the
operators were. Edison had to leave the job. As there
was a great demand for good telegraphists, it was easy
for him to find employment elsewhere. But the work
was not interesting and during the next five years he
changed jobs.
At the age of 22 he went to New York. One day,
while looking for a job, he went to the office of the Gold
Reporting Telegraph Company. Work there had been
disrupted because the telegraph equipment had broken
down. As the business of the company was to send out
and receive the ever-fluctuating bullion prices, the
owner was desperate. No one seemed to know how to
set the instrument right. Edison saw that it was a special
type of instrument, not like any he had used. But he
was never lacking in confidence and he offered to
repair it.
The owner, Laws, looked at the young man with
misgiving. Since he had no choice, he asked Edison to
do what he could. It took Edison only a few minutes to
learn how the machine worked and he set it right.
Laws employed him on the spot on a salary of 300
dollars a month to keep the telegraph machine in order
and to try to improve it.
Edison liked the job. The pay was good and it gave
him time to do his own research. He made alterations
to make the instrument work better and received
several patents for his discoveries. Soon he was recog-
64
 Edison's first electric bulb.

nized not only as one of the greatest inventors of tele-

graphy but also as a great specialist in electrical science.
By selling some of his patents he became a wealthy man.
With money no longer a problem, Edison left his
job and set up a laboratory and workshop at New-
ark, New Jersey. He invented various instruments
and made them in his workshop.
In 1874 Edison made up his mind to concentrate on
invention rather than manufacture. He left Newark
65
and settled in a village, Menlo Park, where he built a
mansion and set up a well-equipped laboratory. Menlo
Park was about an hour's journey by train from New
York and Edison thought that the peace and quiet of
the countryside would be ideal for his scientific pursuits.
Scientists were then trying to make an electric lamp.
They had noticed that when an electric current was
sent through a wire of high resistance, it generated
heat. The wire itself became hot. If the temperature
rose beyond a certain limit, it glowed.
Ten years after moving to Menlo Park Edison
started his own experiments. He let an electric current
flow through a thin, thread-like wire of platinum. The
filament heated up and began to glow. But only for a
few seconds. The high thermal action of the electric
current broke the filament.
Edison wondered whether it would burn itself out
so quickly if denied oxygen. He made an oval glass
bulb and placed a filament in it. Then he pumped out
all the air from the bulb. As he let electric current
flow through the conductor, the filament again gave
light. It was eight minutes before it broke.
Edison knew that he was on the right track. Perhaps
a filament made of a material less frail than platinum
might be more suitable. Solid carbon would not serve
the purpose, but how about carbonized thread? He
heated a cotton thread in an enclosed, airless furnace,
causing a black carbon layer to form on the thread.
This filament gave light for 45 hours. It was very
encouraging, but a better and more durable filament
was needed.
Edison continued to experiment with various
materials. One hot day in summer, he saw a man he
knew using a hand fan made of bamboo. It occurred to
him that bamboo fibre might make a good filament.
He took the fan from the man and pulled a strand
66
from it. The filament he made from it proved to be the
best he had used.
He then began to experiment with various kinds of
bamboo. He sent men to bamboo-growing countries
like China, Japan, Brazil and India to gather samples
of different species of the plant. After testing about
6,000 samples, he found that a Japanese variety was
the most suitable. The quest had cost him 100,000 U.S.
dollars.
Edison decided to begin making lamps on a large
scale. He sent men to Japan to cultivate bamboos
there to ensure an uninterrupted supply of fibre. Soon,
however, he was able to make, artificially, a kind of fila-
ment out of cotton which proved to be even better
than the one made of bamboo.
Edison's invention was announced in a report in
December, 1879, by Marshall Fox of the New York
Herald after a two-week visit to Menlo Park. The news
set the whole country agog. It was the most exciting
topic of discussion everywhere, but many were sceptical
of the claims made.
Edison announced that he was celebrating New
Year's eve with a festival of lights at Menlo Park and
those who wished might participate in it. He chartered
special trains to bring his guests from Philadelphia and
New York. About 3,000 people assembled at Menlo
Park on the appointed day. As darkness deepened, the
multitude waited in great expectation and suspense.
Suddenly, at the touch of a switch, dazzling lights
turned dark night into luminous day. The houses and
trees in the neighbourhood were also ablaze with lights.
The crowd burst into applause.
Edison had proved beyond doubt that the New
York Herald report had not exaggerated the importance
of his invention. But how could the electric lamp
be made available to every household? Production of
67
electricity was limited. The existing power houses could
supply only enough to meet the requirements of the
telegraph and telephone lines and a few factories.
Edison decided to establish a power generation centre
in New York. So he returned to the city. But before
starting production of electric power, he had to get
over another great hurdle. People thought that electri-
city was dangerous. It could start a fire or even kill.
To overcome their fears, Edison arranged a nightly
parade on Fifth Avenue, a famous street in New York.
More than a hundred men marched along the avenue,
each carrying an electric light on his helmet. The
lights were connected to a generator placed in their
midst. In an opera at a famous theatre, he had every
dancer appearing on the stage carrying a luminous
'magic wand' connected by wire to a generator
beneath the stage.
The newspapers published reports and comments
on the parade and the opera and gradually people got
over their fear of electricity.
After winning over the Mayor, who first opposed
Edison's plans to lay cables connecting the generator
to houses, Edison turned to the banks for loans. It
took time to convince them that the project was not as
risky as they feared. At least they agreed to lend him
a million dollars. And the Edison Electric Illuminating
Company was born.
Edison needed all his inventive genius and in-
genuity to solve the numerous problems that faced
him in providing the world's first city power system.
It was pioneering work and he had to make all the
instruments, fuses, meters, switches, wiring and bulbs
that were required.
During his lifetime, he received more than 1,000
patents. A good number of them were for his invention
during this period.
68
 Edison soon completed the work and announced
that his company would begin to supply electricity
from September 4, 1882. On the evening of that
particular day, exactly at the appointed time, Edison
inaugurated his historic undertaking by pressing a
switch. At once, about 14,000 electric bulbs blazed in
9,000 houses.
The same evening, at the office of the New York
Herald, Fox, sitting at his desk lit by an electric lamp,
wrote a report which was published in the paper the
next day. "The wizard of Menlo Park has turned into
a common reality what his critics and detractors
denounced as impossible."
Within a short time, power stations were built not
only at many places in New York but also in towns and
cities all over the country and in Europe. Humanity
had stepped into the era of electricity.

Sir Joseph John Thomson : electrons

A few months before the world was startled by

Edison's invention, scientists had been even more start-
led by a discovery. It was made by Joseph Thomson
(1856-1940), Director of Cavendish Laboratory,
Cambridge.
Thomson had observed that, when high voltage was
applied to both ends of an airless tube, a ray of light
emanated from its cathode and caused a fluorescence
around the body of the tube itself. And this 'cathode
ray' bent away the moment an electric or magnetic
field was applied to it. This led him to the conclusion
that the ray was electric. But there was nothing in the
tube, called the 'Crookes tube'. Could electricity
abide in vacuum?
69
 On April 30, 1879, as Thomson sat peering at the
tube in the laboratory, his doubts vanished. He was
certain that the ray was electric and was composed of
numberless electric particles. Emerging from the
cathode, they flowed to the other end of the tube,
causing the fluorescence. Thomson assumed that these
same particles flowed through a metallic wire when an
electric current passed through it.
Now the question was, where did the particles come
from? What was their real nature? They could not have
originated from emptiness, from vacuity. What, then?
Did they emerge from the atoms of the matter itself?
In his excitement, he began to pace up and down the
laboratory. If his assumption was correct, his discovery
would strike at the root of a belief people had clung
to for centuries—that atoms were indivisible. If the
particles had really emerged from the atoms of matter,
did it not prove that an atom was composed of still
smaller particles?
Thomson realised that he had made a great and
significant discovery. Observing the effect of electric
and magnetic fields upon the cathode ray, he learnt
that the constituent elements of the ray were negatively
charged particles. So he came to the conclusion that the
atoms of every matter consisted of negative electric
particles. He called them 'electrons'.
Thomson also expressed the view that the com-
ponent particles of the atom could easily be separated.
On the basis of this assumption, many problems of
electrical science could be solved and many questions
answered. Why did materials become electric by fric-
tion? And why did an electric current keep flowing
through a wire when voltage was applied to the two
ends of it? Thomson's theory could answer these
questions.
The discovery of electtons is a revolutionary event
70
in the history of science. It changed previous con-
ceptions regarding the construction of matter. Scientists
now began to think anew about atomic structure and
turned to a new line of research. By and by many other
facts came to light and gave birth to a new branch of
physics called atomic physics.
Stephen Grey had once said to his friend, Wehler,
"Granvil, it often occurs to me that once we can
71
 1
know the true nature of electricity, the mystery of this
whole material universe will reveal itself to us."
The more we know about matter, the more we
understand that Grey was not wrong. The world of
atoms is really the world of electricity. Therefore, in
order to comprehend the real nature of atoms, we must
study electricity.
For this great discovery Thomson was awarded
the Nobel Prize in 1906. He lived up to 1940, to witness
many miracles of electronics, the outcome of his
discovery.

Radio telegraphy : a new age

out half a century before Thomson discovered

electrons, Michael Faraday had observed that the
power of electricity could extend through empty
space from one place to another. He noticed that an
electric current fluctuating in a conductor induced it-
self into another placed in its neighbourhood. Even
when there was no physical contact between the two,
the current in the one could pass to the other.
Faraday could not explain this. But in the very
year that he made known his observations—1831—
was born the man who could. He was James Clerk
Maxwell (1831-79), a Scotsman.
Maxwell was a great mathematician. He illustrated
by mathematical argument that a magnetic field would
be created around a particular place where there was
an electric field of fluctuating intensity. Not only that,
by mathematical formula he could show that when-
ever any change occurred within an electric or magnetic
field, its effect would spread in waves. The waves came
to be called wireless waves.
72
 When Maxwell, with his simple apparatus, proved
the existence of wireless waves, he could never guess
that the results of his experiments would bring about a
miraculous improvement in the whole system of com-
munication.
Ten years after the death of Maxwell, a German
scientist, Heinricb Hertz (1857-94), testified to the
truth of his theory. In 1887 Hertz produced electroma-
gnetic waves. He died seven years later, when he was
only 37.

Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858-1937)

T h e hero of the next part of the story is Jagadish

Chandra Bose, an Indian scientist, who achieved
remarkable success in his researches. As a young
student of physics at the University of Cambridge he
took special interest in electromagnetic theory. Max-
well had been Dean of the Faculty of Physics at Cam-
bridge and the details of his researches and experiments
were preserved at Cavendish Laboratory. There can
be no doubt that Bose was greatly influenced by these.
After completing his studies at Cambridge, Bose
returned to India in 1884 with a letter of introduction
from Prof. Fosset. It was addressed to Lord Ripon,
the Viceroy.
Bose met Lord Ripon in Simla and was appointed
a professor of physics at Presidency College, Calcutta.
At that time, Indian professors were paid much lower
than their European colleagues. In protest against this,
Bose refused to accept his salary for three years. As he
had a good reputation as professor, the managing
body of the college and the authorities of the Education
Department came to terms with him and granted his
73
demand for fair remuneration.
But Bose was not a man to rest satisfied with his
reputation as a professor. He decided that the study
and pursuit of science should be his main aim in life.
The Presidency College laboratory was not well equip-
ped and Bose had himself to make all the instruments
and appliances he needed. The skill and ingenuity he
74
displayed in making sophisticated instruments out of
tin sheets, iron discs and wood chips, with the assis-
tance of only common blacksmiths and carpenters,
had no precedent in the history of science.
Soon his research and experimental work on
electromagnetic waves drew the attention of scientists
in Europe. He was able to prove that invisible electric
waves and visible light waves were homogeneal and
akin to each other. In 1895 he read to the Asiatic
Society a treatise on the subject. And in the course of
his research on invisible electric waves, he conceived
the idea of sending signals through space by means
of electromagnetic waves.
In those days a small mechanical contrivance,
known as 'coherer', was an essential component of
every wireless receiver. Bose experimented with the
'coherer' and made such great improvements that he
brightened the possibility of sending and receiving
signals by wireless. He demonstrated in his laboratory
that electric waves could be transmitted to a distant
place through space. His experiments also showed
that by the waves of electricity man could control a
phenomenon occurring at another place. This in essence
is the Remote Control System.
Here is what he wrote about an experiment he
conducted at the Calcutta Town Hall in the presence
of many scientists :
"This invisible light can easily make its way through
the barriers of bricks, stones and buildings. So, by
this light, it may be possible to send signals without
wire. In the Town Hall, in 1895,1 gave various demon-
strations of its effect and performance in the presence
of Mr. Mackenzie, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal.
"This electric wave penetrated through his enor-
mous body, passed through two close apartments and
got into another room to create great confusion there.
75
It threw away an iron ball, fired a pistol and blew up
a heap of gunpowder."
The Electrician, a journal published in England,
commented: "The apparatus invented by Jagadish
Bose has paled into insignificance all other instruments
that have been devised so far for transmitting signals
without wire".
Admiral Henry Jackson of the Royal Navy found
in Bose's apparatus a solution to the problem of
sending signals from one ship to another that had long
troubled him.
The journal, Electric Engineering, of London,
commented in 1897: "The logic which has inspired and
led Jagadish Bose to invent wireless telegraphy and the
instrument he has devised for this purpose deserve
admiration. The superiority of his radio apparatus to
other similar instruments is beyond question. Yet, it
is really surprising that he had made no secret of his
technique. No one is debarred from making use of
his instrument and reaping profit out of it."
To conceal a scientific truth or to capitalise on it
to make money was something inconceivable to a man
like Bose. When he went to England to publicize the
results of his reasearches a business magnate called on
him and said, "Please do not publish in your lectures
all the facts of your discovery. Allow me to take a
patent in your name. You do not know how much
money you are losing by your neglect. By making use
of your wireless receiver, we shall set up our tele-
graph company. I shall defray all its expenses. And half
the profit will come to you".
This is how Bose mentioned the incident in one of
his letters from London to his friend, Rabindranath
Tagore, in 1901:
"Money, money! O, what a terrible, all-devouring
greed! If I ever be caught in such a grinding mill, there
76
 Marconi in his laboratory.

would be no way out for me. You see, my friend, the

work I have in hand is above all commercial transac-
tions. That is the reason why I declined his offer."
If he had come to terms with that business tycoon
and taken a patent for his discovery, he, and none else,
would have been called the inventor of radio tele-
graphy. But it is not Bose, but Marconi, whom the
world identifies with radio telegraphy.
Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) was born in Italy.
His father was a successful businessman and his mother
came from a rich Irish family. So money for his
scientific pursuits was no problem. And from early
boyhood, he took interest in all matters of science.
77
 When he was only 18 he read, in a British journal, a
few articles by Heinrich Hertz. Like Jagadish Bose,
he realized that, by means of Hertzian waves, signals
could be sent through empty space.
In 1894, when he was 20, he set up a laboratory in
his house and began his experiments. Within a few
years he was able to learn the technique and make an
apparatus to transmit and receive Morse code signals.
While Hertz had used a square metal sheet for
aerial, Marconi set up a pole, 40 feet high, to serve as
the antenna, increasing the range of the wireless waves.
He found that he was able to receive clearly a signal
sent from a distance of a mile and three quarters. With
the idea of introducing a wireless communication
system covering the whole country, young Marconi

Marconi's historic transmitter and receiver.

78
appealed to the Italian government for assistance. But a
prophet is not honoured in his own country. Italy failed
to appreciate the scientific genius of Marconi. And the
Italian government took no interest in Marconi's
project.
Having failed to win the patronage of the Italian
government, Marconi went to England in 1897 and
received a patent for his apparatus. A good number of
enlightened people in England took interest in his
project. A telegraph company named Marconi Wireless
Telegraphy Limited was established. A number of
scientists were appointed to help Marconi. They
worked together to improve his wireless apparatus,
extending its range to eight miles.
But Marconi did not stop there. He thought that
signals could be sent over hundreds of miles, even
across the Atlantic Ocean. Many were sceptical, but
not the directors of the company, who did not hesitate
to spend 200,000 dollars on the experiment.
A wireless transmitter was installed at Poldhu, a
town in Britain. Marconi sailed to America to place
himself with his receiver at St. John, on a high moun-
tain in New Foundland. Marconi wanted as high a
radio antenna as was possible. He suddenly remember-
ed that, about 100 years earlier, Benjamin Franklin had
shown that electricity from lightning could be conduct-
ed through the thread of a high-flying kite. There was
no reason why an aerial could not be kept up by tying
it to a kite.
On December 12, 1901, Marconi tied one end of a
500 feet long wire to a kite and let it fly up. The other
end was connected to his radio receiver. He looked at
his watch. Within a few minutes, Fleming would start
sending his signal from the other side of the Atlantic.
The minutes were the longest he had ever spent.
At the appointed time, trembling with doubt and
79
 hope, he turned on the receiver. Only a soft gurgling
sound came from it. Marconi listened intently. Again a
few moments of suspense and, suddenly, he heard
something meaningful. "Can you hear anything?"
Marconi called out to his two assistants. All three sat
close to the receiver and listened.
Marconi was not mistaken. They all heard, faintly
the dot-dot-dot that they expected to hear, the Morse
Code for the letter 'S', the signal that Fleming had been
instructed to send. Marconi had accomplished the
miracle he had promised.
Within a short time there came a revolutionary
change in the whole system of communications. Radio
transmitting stations were set up in towns and cities.
Every ship of the British Royal Navy was equipped
with a radio transmitter and a receiver. Many other
ships were also similarly equipped, but it needed a
disaster to drive home the importance of radio
telegraphy.
On April 14, 1912, at midnight, the luxury liner, the
Titanic, struck an iceberg. As SOS signal, calling for
rescue, was sent out from the ship.
At that time the ship, the Californian, was only 32
miles away, but its radio operator was not on duty.
Another ship, the Carthapia, picked up the SOS signal
and changed course to rush to the rescue. But the
Carthapia was far away and could reach the place of
the accident only twenty minutes after the Titanic sank.
Of the 2,224 passengers, 1,513 had already drowned.
The Carthapia could save the lives of only 711 men,
women and children.
The Titanic, after it was severely damaged, had kept
afloat for nearly two and a half hours. Had there been
a radio operator on duty on the Californian, it could
have reached the scene of the accident in time to save
all those on board the stricken ship. After the disaster,
80
at an international conference held in London, it was
decided that there should be a wireless operator on
duty all the time on every passenger ship.

Revolutionary achievements of electronics

ile Thomas Edison was engaged in improving

the quality of his electric lamps, he made a significant
discovery. To test a theory he had, he placed a metal
plate within an electric bulb. He observed that, while
an electric current could be sent towards the filament
by connecting a battery between the plate and the
heated filament, in no way could an electric current be
sent from the heated filament to the plate.
Edison was so busy with his other experiments that
he had no time to study and explore this phenomenon.
But when his findings were published, Sir John
Ambrose Fleming (1849-1945), an English scientist,
found them of great interest.
After completing his study at Royal College, he
went to Cambridge, where he worked at Cavendish
Laboratory under Clerk Maxwell. Later he joined
the Electrical Engineering Department of London
University as a professor. It was there that he came
to know of the Edison process of anode-plating.
Fleming had been thinking of the possibility of a
radio telephone system. He felt the need to devise an
instrument through which electric current could flow
only in one direction. Using the Edison method such
an instrument could perhaps be built.
In 1889 he made an airless bulb with two electrodes.
The apparatus was called the 'diode valve', because,
through this the electronic flow would be impelled in
only one direction. In the diode valve of Fleming's
81
device, one of the two electrodes was the filament and
the other the plate. A carbon filament was used and
round this was fixed a conic metal foil which formed
the plate.
The action of the valve may be explained in this
manner: When a current is sent through the filament, it
becomes hot and radiant. A beam of electrons shoots
up from the filament. When the positive electrode of
the battery is connected to the plate and the negative
electrode to the filament, the electrons emitted by the
filament rush towards the plate. An electric current
82
begins to flow through the space between the plate and
the filament. But the moment the filament is connected
to the positive pole and the plate to the negative pole of
the battery, the plate repels or drives back the electrons.
And so no electric current flows through the valve.
In 1907, an American scientist, Lee De Forest
(1873-1961), placed between the filament and the plate
of a diode valve another electrode composed of spirals
or lattices of wire. He thus made a valve of three
electrodes, a triode valve'. By means of this valve a
;

weak electric signal can be amplified to a great extent.

It is this particular process of signal amplification that
made the radio receiver and radio telephony possible.
The branch of physics which discusses the principle and
the application of these instruments is known as
'electronics'.
The science of electronics has brought about a
complete change in our way of life in the past seventy
years. Besides the electronic valves, the discovery of the
photoelectric effect and the invention of the transistor
greatiy contributed to the advancement of electronics.
The process of converting light into electricity was
first found by Willoughby Smith. In 1873 Smith
observed that when selenium was exposed to light, its
electrical conductivity changed. If a piece of selenium
was placed within an electric circuit and the intensity of
the light falling upon the selenium was varied, a corres-
ponding variation occurred in the current of the circuit
itself. But the variations were not instantaneous and so
a better method of converting light into electrical
energy was needed.
In 1888, a German scientist, Hallwachs, noticed that
when ultraviolet rays fell on a polished zinc plate
charged with negative electricity, the plate became
electrically neutral. But, if the ultraviolet rays were
thrown upon the same zinc plate after it was charged
83
with positive electricity, the plate did not lose its
electric charge.
Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard (1862-1947), an-
other German scientist, demonstrated that when ultra-
violet rays fell on a metal plate charged with negative
electricity, the plate discharged electrons. That was why
it became electrically neutral. Two other scientists,
Elster and Geitel, noticed that some materials
like sodium, potassium and caesium also discharge
electrons when light fell on them.
The emission of electrons by the effect of light is
known as the photoelectric effect. It is the practical
application of this photoelectric effect that has made the
invention of television possible. The photoelectric effect
is also being used for automatic street lighting, record-
ing sound on photographic plate and reproducing
sound.
The invention of the transistor was spurred by the
flaws in the functioning of triode valves. An apparatus
fitted with valves does not start working immediately
on being switched on. Only when the cathodes become
heated do the valves emit electrons. And, being made
of glass, these valves are frail and brittle. Besides, an
electronic apparatus made with a combination of many
such valves has to be large.
Soon after the Second World War a group of
scientists of Bell Telephone Laboratory in America be-
gan looking for alternatives to electronic valves. Of
them Walter Brattain, William Shockley and John
Bardeen may be mentioned. They succeeded in making
transistors by using 'semi-conductors'.
Materials through which electric current can easily
flow are called conductors. Silver, copper and alu-
minium are good conductors. Glass, backelite and china
clay, through which no electric current can flow are
non-conductors.
84
 Semi-conductors are a class by themselves. In their
pure state semi-conductors are non-conductors. But, in
suitable combination with other materials, they acquire
conductivity. For instance, germanium, in its natural
state a non-conductor, becomes a conductor with a
proper mixture of arsenic or gallium. By making use of
semi-conducting materials it was possible to devise a
'semi-conductor diode'.
The scientists of Bell Laboratory, by using semi-
conducting properties of matter, were able to make
transistors which were not only as efficient as triode
valves and less frail, they also work the moment an
apparatus fitted with them is switched on. Besides,
transistors are easier and less expensive to make.
The transistor has made it possible to invent many
wonderful instruments. One such is the 'pace-maker',
which is planted in the chest of a patient to correct the
heart-beat.
The most remarkable invention of the century is the
computer. This instrument may well be called an arti-
ficial brain. It can work out complex mathematical
problems with unbelievable speed. It can store in its
memory numerous data, analyse them and take deci-
sions. To execute these decisions, it can turn on, by
itself, electro-mechanical devices.
Computers are now being used extensively in auto-
matic systems of industrial operation. With computers,
robots have been made to take on the harder tasks in
factories. Computers now help doctors. With the aid of
computers it has been possible for man to send pilotless
craft into infinite space and to bring them back to earth.
But for computers, it would not have been possible for
man to land on the moon and return to earth.
While computers have opened new vistas that
promise much for human welfare, they also threaten
human existence. They are already extensively used by
85
the armed forces of all countries, particularly of the
super powers. And, in days to come, computers will be
helping even more to decide military strategy and
conduct operations.
The genie of electricity can bless man. It can also
annihilate him. It depends on man to make it good or
evil, for it acts only as he commands.

86
 Electricity and magnetism are phenomena which arise
from the nature and behaviour of the electrically charged
particles—the protons and electrons—which together with
the uncharged neutrons are the principal constituents of
atoms. The exact nature of an electric charge is still un-
known, but it can be measured, and its effects can be pre-
dicted and put to use, being the basis of all electrical and
electronic equipment.
The charge carried by a proton is called a positive (or +
ve) charge, and that carried by the electron is called a nega-
tive (or - ve) charge. A pair of similar charges, two positive
ones,for example, will repel each other, but two unlike
charges, one positive and one negative, will attract each
other.
The region around a charged particle in which these
forces of attraction and repulsion operate is called an elec-
tric field.

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Science

Published by Marshall Cavendish Books Limited.London
 The Story of Electricity

Thanks to electricity what was incredible

has b e c o m e commonplace. The earliest dis-
covery about this 'magic force' was m a d e more
than 2500 years ago by a Greek called Thales.
Since then man has set about taming the pow-
erful genie. This book tells you how.

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