(General References [16 18])

In 1600 W. Gilbert wrote the book De Magnete (On The Magnet). This book is considered to be the first scientific publication. In 1672 Otto von Guericke (of vacuum pump fame) built the first electrostatic (frictional) electricity-generating machine, which used a rotating ball of sulfur. "Friction electricity" was used for entertainment in the early years ( ^[E-2]). In 1732 Gray described the conduction of electricity, and about 1745 the air capacitor (Leyden jar) was invented by von Kleist, which allowed electricity to be stored. The invention of the Leyden jar is sometimes erroneously credited to Prof. van Musschenbroek at the University of Leyden in The Netherlands. In 1749 Benjamin Franklin introduced the concept of positive and negative electricity and the conservation of charge. Franklin also introduced the word "battery" for a bank of Leyden jars ( ^[E-3]). In 1800 Alessandro Volta invented the electrolytic "voltaic pile" (later called a battery) based on the observations of "animal electricity" by Luigi Galvani (1791) and others (see Figure 3). The science of electrochemistry had its beginning at that time [19] for example, the electrodeposition of copper (Cruikshank in l800) and electrolysis, which allowed the separation of oxygen and hydrogen from water (an accidental discovery by Nicolson and Carlyle in 1800). Napoleon Bonaparte was immediately interested and supported the construction of very large arrays of batteries, as did others. For example, the Russians built an array of 4,200 Cu-Zn cells in 1803 at St. Petersburg's Medical and Surgical...