Prior to him, all that was known of these
phenomena was what the ancients knew, that the lodestone
possessed magnetic properties and that amber and jet, when
rubbed, would attract bits of paper or other substances of small
specific gravity. Gilbert's great treatise "On the Magnet",
printed in Latin in 1600, containing the fruits of his researches
and experiments for many years, indeed provided the basis for a
new science.
On foundations well and truly laid by Gilbert several Europeans,
like Otto von Guericke of Germany, Du Fay of France, and Stephen
Gray of England, worked before Benjamin Franklin and added to the
structure of electrical knowledge. The Leyden jar, in which the
mysterious force could be stored, was invented in Holland in 1745
and in Germany almost simultaneously.
Franklin's important discoveries are outlined in the first
chapter of this book. He found out, as we have seen, that
electricity and lightning are one and the same, and in the
lightning rod he made the first practical application of
electricity. Afterwards Cavendish of England, Coulomb of France,
Galvani of Italy, all brought new bricks to the pile. Following
them came a group of master builders, among whom may be
mentioned: Volta of Italy, Oersted of Denmark, Ampere of France,
Ohm of Germany, Faraday of England, and Joseph Henry of America.
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