Chapter I: Preface

This volume represents an effort in the direction of what may be called the biographical history of electricity. The controlling idea in its preparation was to provide brief yet reasonably complete sketches of the lives of the great pioneer workers in electricity, the ground-breaking investigators who went distinctly beyond the bounds of what was known before their time, not merely to add a fringe of information to previous knowledge, but to make it easy for succeeding generations to reach conclusions in electrical science that would have been quite impossible until their revealing work was done. The lives of these men are not only interesting as scientific history, but especially as human documents, showing the sort of men who are likely to make great advances in science and, above all, demonstrating what the outlook of such original thinkers was on all the great problems of the world around us.

In recent times, many people have come to accept the impression that modern science leads to such an exclusive occupation with things material, that scientists almost inevitably lose sight of the deeper significance of the world of mystery in which humanity finds itself placed on this planet. The lives of these great pioneers in electricity, however, do not lend the slightest evidence in confirmation of any such impression. They were all of them firm believers in the existence of Providence, of a Creator, of man's responsibility for his acts to that Creator, and of a hereafter of reward and punishment where the sanction of responsibility shall be fulfilled. Besides, they were men characterized by some of the best qualities in human nature. Their fellows liked them for their unselfishness, for their readiness to help others, for their devotedness to their work and to their duties as teachers, citizens and patriots. Almost without exception, they were as far above the average of mankind in their personal ethics as they were in their intellectual qualities.

The lives of such men, who were inspiring forces in their day, are as illuminating as they are instructive and encouraging. Perhaps never more than now do we need such inspiration and illumination to lift life to a higher plane of purpose and accomplishment, than that to which it is so prone to sink when material interests attract almost exclusive attention.

CONTENTS

Page

Peregrinus and Columbus 1

Norman and Gilbert 29

Franklin and some contemporaries 68

Galvani, discoverer of animal electricity 133

Volta, the founder of electrical science 162

Coulomb 188

Hans Christian Oersted 205

André Marie Ampère 232

Ohm, the founder of mathematical electricity 258

Faraday 299

Clerk Maxwell 334

Lord Kelvin 361

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

The double pivoted needle of Petrus Peregrinus 19

First pivoted compass, Peregrinus, 1269 17

Magnetic Declination at New York 21

" " " San Francisco 21

" " in London, in 1580 and 1907 23

First dip-circle, invented by Norman in 1576 29

Norman's illustration of magnetic dip 31

Gilbert's orb of virtue, 1600 32

Behavior of compass-needle on a terrella or
spherical lodestone 44

Gilbert's "versorium" or electroscope 69

Gordon's electric chimes, 1745 75

Modern form of Leyden jar, with movable coatings 87

Three coated panes in series 89

" panes in parallel 89

" jars in parallel 90

" jars in cascade 90

Discharge by alternate contacts 94

Tassel of long threads or light strips of paper 101

Procopius Divisch (1696-1765) 108

The Divisch lightning conductor (1754) 111

Set of pointed rods 112

Galvani (portrait) opposite page 133

Volta " " " 162

Oersted " " " 205

Ampère " " " 232

Faraday " " " 299

Clerk Maxwell (portrait) opposite page 334

Lord Kelvin " " " 361

MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY.