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Humphrey Davy:
Sir Humphrey Davy was a chemist who believed that electricity from a battery was produced by electrochemical interaction. In October 1807, he constructed a battery that showed that "electrical compunds could be decomposed into their basic elements by electricity". He decomposed alkalies with electricity and was able to extract potassium and sodium. After much hard work, in 1808, Davy created a gigantic battery that was made of two thousand pairs of plates. "Applying the intense electrical energy produced by this massive battery to alkaline earth, Davy extracted more new elements - magnesium, calcium, barium, and strontium."

Sir Humphrey Davy was also a researcher of the arc light. In 1809 he demonstrated the electricity flow between two charcoal sticks, and this led the basis for the commercial arc light.




References:
1) Jill Jonnes' Empires of Light (pages 34 and 35)

Luigi Galvani:
Luigi Galvani was born in Bologna, Italy in 1737. Galvani’s work with electricity was a happenchance during an anatomy experiment at the University of Bologna. An electrostatic machine was in another room in the area, and the scalpel seemed to pick up an electric charge from the machine. The frog’s muscles would seize when touched in a certain part of the leg. Galvani was amazed, and repeated the process multiple times in order to prove to himself what he saw was real.Galvani realized that the electricity, when put in close quarters to an animal’s nerve causes a reaction. Galvani tested the experiment in many forms, and wrote many papers on the subject. Due to the time line Ben Franklin, also published the papers on electricity that he was working on. “… Hundreds of dedicated electrical philosophers rushed to replicate Galvani’s “animal electricity” experiments. Among them was Alessandro Volta of Pavia... (Jones, 2003).” Galvani was exiled from Bologna during Napoleon’s conquest of Italy, when Galvani would not bend a knee to the little general. Galvani died penniless and homeless, though he was a great mind of the time.




References:
1) Jill Jonnes' Empires of Light

Alessandro Volta:

Alessandro Volta was born in Como, Italy in 1745. Volta was a major refuter on what Galvani did with animal electrification. Volta believed that it was the different charges from different metal that made the animal seize. Volta was also the first to create a prototype alkaline battery. Using copper rings mixed with zinc and silver, and in between, paper soaked in saline solution. It was able to displace a continuous charge unlike the Leyden jar and electro static machines.Volta’s greatest achievement was the creation of the electroscope. It was able to detect electric charges. Volta’s pile also led to the creation of the arc light. The battery was used as the generator in between two sticks of charcoal for carbons. The carbons would jump due to the degree of the electrical charges, forming an almost blinding blue light; the arc would last as long as both power and carbons remained. Under Napoleon Volta was made a count, and was able to marry, remain rich, and dabble in electrical philosophies as much as he desired. (Jones, 2003)





References:
1) Jill Jonnes' Empires of Light

Michael Faraday:
Michael Faraday was an English printing press assistant then maker. He had no institutional education after the age of 12. He once went to a meeting at the royal science hall, where he was enthralled by the presence of a Sir H. Davy. So amazed was Faraday, by Davy, that he went back and put a book together about the days lecture, he printed it and sent a copy of it to Davy himself. Davy was amazed and brought Faraday on at the academy.Faraday was paid 100 pounds a year. Along with two rooms and all the coal and candles he would need. Faradays work consisted mainly of electromagnetism. He would use the fields of magnetism to create an electric current. The current would be caught be a coiled wire and be able to be sent throughout the enclosed system. Faraday unlike Volta was not satisfied with just one great invention, but he set out to see the relationships between electricity and the magnetic fields. Faraday was often put in awe by the people who visited to see him speak. He was loud boisterous, and able to answer any and all questions that were asked, even if they were his own answers.

References:
1) Jill Jonnes' Empires of Light

Charles Francis Brush:

Charles Francis Brush was an American pioneer who helped to advance the use of electricity during the nineteenth century. Brush created arc lights, which were a form of lighting for the outdoors. The arc lights were composed of jumping electricity between two carbon electrodes. Fortunately, Edison created the incandescent light bulb which was able to burn indoors without as much risk of flame as arc lights had.










References:
1) Brush - http://www.lafavre.us/brush/brushbio.htm

Joseph Henry:
Henry originally planned to be a doctor, but after an experience as an assistant engineer on a surveying team he changed his mind and decided to study civil and mechanical engineering. His first discovery was that by wrapping an insulated wire around a magnet, the magnet’s power could be increase dramatically. Many inventors at the time, including Michael Faraday and William Sturgeon, recognized the value of Henry’s discovery. Henry eventually became interested in telegraphs. He strung out a mile of wire and put a battery on one end. On the other end he made the armature strike the bell. While Samuel Morse is accredited the inventor of the telegraph, he would have not been able to invent it with out Henry having discovered the basic mechanics of telegraphy. Henry’s next breakthrough was the designing of a magnetic engine and successfully making a reciprocating-bar motor. He did, however, succeed in producing direct rotary motion. Later on, Henry was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy at Princeton University. From that point, Henry was more of a researcher than an inventor. In 1846, the Smithsonian Institution was founded and Henry was its chief executive officer until he died in 1878.







References:
1) Inventors - http://inventors.about.com/cs/inventorsalphabet/a/electricity_2.htm

William Gilbert:
William Gilbert was born in Colchester England in 1544. He received his M.D in 1569 at St. John’s College. He published De Magnete which was the standard on electrical and magnetic phenomenon. He was one of the first to establish a difference between magnetic forces and electrical forces such as that of amber versus the magnetic force of the earth on a compass. He also tested many folk tales such as one that stated that garlic destroyed the magnetic properties of a compass.









References:
1) Gilbert - http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/gilbert.html