As a youth in Bolagna, Italy, Luigi Galvani had contemplated a religious vocation, but his parents steered him into the study of medicine. He acquired degrees from the University of Bolagna in medicine and philosophy. Back then in the 1700s, medical education was based on the teachings of Hippocrates, Galen and Avicenna, but Galvani took […]
New Articles
Pierre-Simon Laplace and the Laplace transform
Characteristic of his time, Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827) published a comprehensive review of the scientific work done by his predecessors with an overlay of his new mathematical interpretation. Titled Celestial Mechanics, the five-volume work replaced the old-style geometric methodology with Laplace’s unique style of calculus, suggesting a broad range of new subject matter – everything from stability […]
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb and the units of charge
In the early eighteenth century and before, England had long been the scene for most of the important research and theorizing about the nature of electricity and magnetism. The focus shifted to France in the late eighteenth century. Scientists increasingly appreciated that scrupulous observation and exact measurement could provide a more realistic basis for understanding the physical […]
Power analyzer incorporates touch-driven scope features
A new power analyzer combines power measurements with features of a touch-driven oscilloscope. The Keysight IntegraVision power analyzer targets engineers who need dynamic views of current, voltage and power so they can see, measure and prove the performance of devices such as power inverters or converters, universal power supplies, battery systems, vehicle and aircraft power systems, lighting systems/electronic ballasts and […]
The first EE
Who was the first electrical engineer? Thomas Edison, James Clerk Maxwell, William Gilbert? None of the above. Miletus, near Turkey’s west coast, today lies in ruins but it was the birthplace, in 624 BC, of the pre-Socratic philosopher Thales. He broke with the prevailing notion that supernatural forces underlay all worldly phenomena. His declaration that […]
Father of electricity, William Gilbert
William Gilbert, a practicing physician who attended Queen Elizabeth I throughout the last difficult years of her reign, was most noted in his time as a keen astronomical observer. But by far his most enduring accomplishment was a six-volume work compiling all knowledge of electricity and magnetism. Titled On The Magnet, it published in 1600, […]
Francis Hauksbee and static electricity generation
In 1703 Isaac Newton, recently named president of the Royal Society, wished to revitalize that staid organization of prominent British scientists. To this end, he appointed his lab assistant, Francis Hauksbee, to be the official curator, instrument maker and experimentalist. Hauksbee’s initial demonstrations were of various air pumps that he had devised, but these less […]
Thank Stephen Gray for wire and insulators
Stephen Gray, astronomer, instrument maker and electrical experimenter, lived in England from 1666 to 1736. Despite challenges of ill health and intermittent poverty, his systematic investigation of electrical conduction laid the groundwork for telegraphy, which about a century later, changed the world. A problem in the life of this amiable seeker of knowledge was being […]
Boolean Algebra and Logic Gates
As first realized, computers were power-hungry, noisy contraptions of clacking gears for performing analog operations, and electromechanical relays capable of cascading digital on-off (true-false) states. Pneumatic and hydraulic computing mechanisms were also proposed. First vacuum tubes and then solid-state devices made computers a practical reality. The initial inspiration for electronic computers was George Boole’s works […]
Digital modulation basics and considerations
The first step in transmitting radio-frequency signals through space is to create a pure carrier at the transmitter. This electrical wave must be of stable, unvarying amplitude, frequency and phase. A quartz crystal oscillator frequently serves the purpose. Information can be conveyed when the carrier is modulated. At the receiver, the carrier is demodulated, separating out an […]