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This article details the '''history of [[electrical engineering]]'''. 

== Ancient developments==
Long before any knowledge of electricity existed, people were aware of shocks from [[electric fish]]. [[Ancient Egypt]]ian texts dating from 2750 BCE referred to these fish as the "Thunderer of the [[Nile]]", and described them as the "protectors" of all other fish. Electric fish were again reported millennia later by [[ancient Greek]], [[Roman Empire|Roman]] and [[Science in the medieval Islamic world|Arabic naturalists]] and [[Islamic medicine|physicians]].<ref>{{citation|title=Review: Electric Fish|first1=Peter|last1=Moller|journal=BioScience|volume=41|issue=11|date=December 1991|pages=794–96 [794]|doi=10.2307/1311732|jstor=1311732|publisher=American Institute of Biological Sciences|last2=Kramer|first2=Bernd}}</ref> Several ancient writers, such as [[Pliny the Elder]] and [[Scribonius Largus]], attested to the numbing effect of [[electric shock]]s delivered by [[electric catfish]] and [[electric ray]]s, and knew that such shocks could travel along conducting objects.<ref name=Electroreception>
{{citation
| first = Theodore H. | last = Bullock
| title = Electroreception
| pages = 5–7
| publisher = Springer
| year = 2005
| isbn = 0-387-23192-7}}
</ref> Patients with ailments such as [[gout]] or headache were directed to touch electric fish in the hope that the powerful jolt might cure them.<ref name=morris>
{{citation
| first = Simon C.
| last = Morris
| title = Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/lifessolutionine01conw/page/182 182–85]
| publisher = Cambridge University Press
| year = 2003
| isbn = 0-521-82704-3
| url = https://archive.org/details/lifessolutionine01conw/page/182
}}</ref> Possibly the earliest and nearest approach to the discovery of the identity of [[lightning]], and electricity from any other source, is to be attributed to the [[Arabs]], who before the 15th century had the Arabic word for lightning ''ra‘ad'' ({{Script|Arabic|رعد}}) applied to the [[electric ray]].<ref name="EncyclopediaAmericana">''The [[Encyclopedia Americana]]; a library of universal knowledge'' (1918), New York City: Encyclopedia Americana Corp</ref>

Ancient cultures around the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] knew that certain objects, such as rods of [[amber]], could be rubbed with cat's fur to attract light objects like feathers. [[Thales of Miletus]], an ancient Greek philosopher, writing at around 600 BCE, described a form of [[static electricity]], noting that rubbing fur on various substances, such as [[amber]], would cause a particular attraction between the two. He noted that the amber buttons could attract light objects such as hair and that if they rubbed the amber for long enough they could even get a [[Electrostatic discharge|spark]] to jump.

At around 450 BCE [[Democritus]], a later Greek philosopher, developed an [[atomic theory]] that was similar to modern atomic theory. His mentor, Leucippus, is credited with this same theory. The hypothesis of Leucippus and Democritus held everything to be composed of [[atoms]]. But these ''atoms'', called "atomos", were indivisible, and indestructible. He presciently stated that between atoms lies empty space, and that atoms are constantly in motion. He was incorrect only in stating that atoms come in different sizes and shapes, and that each object had its own shaped and sized atom.<ref name=russel1>Russell, Bertrand (1972). ''A History of Western Philosophy'', Simon & Schuster. pp.64–65.</ref><ref name=Barnes1>Barnes, Jonathan.(1987). Early Greek Philosophy, Penguin.</ref>

An object found in [[Iraq]] in 1938, dated to about 250 BCE and called the [[Baghdad Battery]], resembles a [[galvanic cell]] and is claimed by some to have been used for [[electroplating]] in [[Mesopotamia]], although there is no evidence for this.

==17th-century developments==

Electricity would remain little more than an intellectual curiosity for millennia. In 1600, the English scientist, [[William Gilbert (astronomer)|William Gilbert]] extended the study of Cardano on electricity and magnetism, distinguishing the [[lodestone]] effect from static electricity produced by rubbing amber.<ref name=stewart/> He coined the [[Neo-Latin]] word ''electricus'' ("of amber" or "like amber", from ''ήλεκτρον'' [''elektron''], the Greek word for "amber") to refer to the property of attracting small objects after being rubbed.<ref>
{{Citation
| first = Brian | last = Baigrie
| title = Electricity and Magnetism: A Historical Perspective
| publisher = Greenwood Press
| year = 2007
| pages = 7–8
| isbn = 978-0-313-33358-3}}
</ref> This association gave rise to the English words "electric" and "electricity", which made their first appearance in print in [[Thomas Browne]]'s ''[[Pseudodoxia Epidemica]]'' of 1646.<ref>
{{Citation
| first = Gordon | last = Chalmers
| title = The Lodestone and the Understanding of Matter in Seventeenth Century England
| journal = Philosophy of Science
| year = 1937
| volume = 4
| issue = 1
| pages = 75–95
| doi = 10.1086/286445| s2cid = 121067746
}}</ref>

Further work was conducted by [[Otto von Guericke]] who showed electrostatic repulsion. [[Robert Boyle]] also published work.<ref name="guarnieri 7-1">{{Cite journal|last=Guarnieri|first=M.|year=2014|title=Electricity in the age of Enlightenment|journal=IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine|volume=8|issue=3|pages=60–63|doi=10.1109/MIE.2014.2335431|s2cid=34246664}}</ref>

==18th-century developments==
Though electrical phenomena had been known for centuries, in the 18th century, the systematic study of electricity became known as "the youngest of the sciences", and the public became electrified by the newest discoveries in the field.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bertucci|first=Paola|date=September 2007|title=Sparks in the dark: the attraction of electricity in the eighteenth century|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0160932707000531|journal=Endeavour|language=en|publisher=Elsevier|volume=31|issue=3|pages=88–93|doi=10.1016/j.endeavour.2007.06.002|pmid=17681376|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

By 1705, [[Francis Hauksbee]] had discovered that if he placed a small amount of mercury in the glass of his modified version of [[Otto von Guericke]]'s generator, evacuated the air from it to create a mild vacuum and rubbed the ball to build up a charge, a glow was visible if he placed his hand on the outside of the ball. This glow was bright enough to read by. It seemed to be similar to [[St. Elmo's Fire]]. This effect later became the basis of the [[gas-discharge lamp]], which led to [[neon lighting]] and [[mercury-vapor lamp|mercury vapor lamps]]. In 1706 he produced an 'Influence machine' to generate this effect.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=James Burke (science historian)|first=James|last=Burke|title=Connections|url=https://archive.org/details/connections00burk_351|url-access=limited|location=London|publisher=Macmillan|year=1978|page=[https://archive.org/details/connections00burk_351/page/n80 75]|isbn=0-333-24827-9}}</ref> He was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] the same year.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Persons&dsqSearch=Code==%27NA8345%27&dsqCmd=Show.tcl |title=Royal Society record |access-date=May 7, 2021 |archive-date=February 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220224091754/https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Persons&dsqSearch=Code%3D%3D%27NA8345%27&dsqCmd=Show.tcl |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Joseph Siffrein Duplessis - Benjamin Franklin - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|[[Benjamin Franklin]]]]
Hauksbee continued to experiment with electricity, making numerous observations and developing machines to generate and demonstrate various electrical phenomena. In 1709 he published ''Physico-Mechanical Experiments on Various Subjects'' which summarized much of his scientific work.

[[Stephen Gray (scientist)|Stephen Gray]] discovered the importance of insulators and conductors. [[C. F. du Fay]] seeing his work, developed a "two-fluid" theory of electricity.
<ref name="guarnieri 7-1"/>

In the 18th century, [[Benjamin Franklin]] conducted extensive research in electricity, selling his possessions to fund his work. In June 1752 he is reputed to have attached a metal key to the bottom of a dampened kite string and flown the kite in a storm-threatened sky.<ref>
{{citation
| first = James
| last = Srodes
| title = Franklin: The Essential Founding Father
| pages = 92–94
| year = 2002
| publisher = Regnery Publishing
| isbn = 0-89526-163-4
| url = https://archive.org/details/franklinessentia0000srod
}} It is uncertain if Franklin personally carried out this experiment, but it is popularly attributed to him.</ref> A succession of sparks jumping from the key to the back of his hand showed that [[lightning]] was indeed electrical in nature.<ref>{{Citation
| last = Uman
| first = Martin
| author-link = Martin A. Uman
| title = All About Lightning
| publisher = Dover Publications
| year = 1987
| url = https://archive.org/details/allaboutlightnin0000uman
| format = PDF
| isbn = 0-486-25237-X
}}</ref> He also explained the apparently paradoxical behavior of the [[Leyden jar]] as a device for storing large amounts of electrical charge, by coming up with the single fluid, two states theory of electricity.

In 1791, Italian [[Luigi Galvani]] published his discovery of [[bioelectricity]], demonstrating that electricity was the medium by which [[nerve cell]]s passed signals to the muscles.<ref name="guarnieri 7-1"/><ref name="guarnieri 7-2">{{Cite journal|last=Guarnieri|first=M.|year=2014|title=The Big Jump from the Legs of a Frog|journal=IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine|volume=8|issue=4|pages=59–61+69|doi=10.1109/MIE.2014.2361237|s2cid=39105914}}</ref><ref name=kirby>
{{citation
| first = Richard S.
| last = Kirby
| title = Engineering in History
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/engineeringinhis0000unse/page/331 331–333]
| year = 1990
| publisher = Courier Dover Publications
| isbn = 0-486-26412-2
| url = https://archive.org/details/engineeringinhis0000unse/page/331
}}
</ref> [[Alessandro Volta]]'s battery, or [[voltaic pile]], of 1800, made from alternating layers of zinc and copper, provided scientists with a more reliable source of electrical energy than the [[electrostatic machine]]s previously used.<ref name="guarnieri 7-2"/><ref name=kirby/>
{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = horizontal
| header   =
| image1   = Pila di Volta.jpg
| caption1 = A [[voltaic pile]], the first battery
| width1   = 90
| image2   = Volta-and-napoleon.PNG
| caption2 = [[Alessandro Volta]] showing the earliest pile to emperor [[Napoleon Bonaparte]]
| width2   = 195
}}

==19th-century developments==
[[File:Simple electromagnet2.gif|thumb|A simple electromagnet, consisting of an insulated wire wound around an iron core. An electric current passing through the wire creates a [[Magnetic field]], with a north pole at one end and a south pole at the other]]
The first application of electricity that was put to practical use was [[electromagnetism]].<ref>{{cite web| url = https://ethw.org/Early_Applications_of_Electricity#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20first%20to,metal.| title = Early Applications of Electricity| date = September 14, 2015| access-date = 23 August 2023 }}</ref> [[William Sturgeon]] invented the [[electromagnet]] in 1825.<ref>{{cite book|title= Technology and Society| author=R. V. G. Menon | publisher = Dorling Kindersley| location = India| year = 2011}}</ref> Electromagnets were then used in the first practical engineering application of electricity by [[William Fothergill Cooke]] and [[Charles Wheatstone]] who co-developed a [[Cooke and Wheatstone telegraph|telegraph system]] that used a number of needles on a board which were moved to point to letters of the alphabet.  A five needle system was used initially, but was given up as too expensive. In 1838 an improvement reduced the number of needles to two, and a patent for this version was taken out by Cooke and Wheatstone.{{sfn|Burnley|1887|pp=102–103}} 
Cooke tested the invention, with the [[London & Blackwall Railway]], the [[London & Birmingham Railway]], and the [[Great Western Railway]] companies, successively allowing the use of their lines for the experiment. Subsequently, railways developed systems with signal boxes along the line communicating with their neighbouring boxes by telegraphic sounding of [[Electric bell#Single-stroke bells|single-stroke bells]] and three-position [[needle telegraph]] instruments. Such systems implementing [[signalling block system]]s remained in use on rural lines well into the 21st century.<ref>{{cite web
| url = https://www.networkrail.co.uk/stories/making-the-railway-digital-a-signal-story/
| title = Making the railway digital – a signal story
| date = 10 October 2023
| publisher = Network Rail
| access-date = 19 March 2024 }}</ref>

[[File:Sir Francis Ronalds_crop.jpg|thumb|right|Sir Francis Ronalds]]
Electrical engineering became a profession in the late 19th century. Practitioners had created a global [[electric telegraph]] network and the first electrical engineering institutions to support the new discipline were founded in the UK and US. Although it is impossible to precisely pinpoint a first electrical engineer, [[Francis Ronalds]] stands ahead of the field, who created a working electric telegraph system in 1816 and documented his vision of how the world could be transformed by electricity.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sir Francis Ronalds: Father of the Electric Telegraph|last=Ronalds|first=B.F.|publisher=Imperial College Press|year=2016|isbn=978-1-78326-917-4|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ronalds|first=B.F.|date=Feb 2016|title=The Bicentennial of Francis Ronalds's Electric Telegraph|journal=Physics Today|volume=69|issue=2|pages=26–31|doi=10.1063/PT.3.3079|bibcode=2016PhT....69b..26R|doi-access=free}}</ref> Over 50 years later, he joined the new Society of Telegraph Engineers (soon to be renamed the [[Institution of Electrical Engineers]]) where he was regarded by other members as the first of their cohort.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ronalds|first=B.F.|date=July 2016|title=Francis Ronalds (1788–1873): The First Electrical Engineer?|journal=Proceedings of the IEEE|doi=10.1109/JPROC.2016.2571358|s2cid=20662894}}</ref> The donation of his extensive electrical library was a considerable boon for the fledgling Society.

[[File:M Faraday Th Phillips oil 1842.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Michael Faraday portrayed by [[Thomas Phillips]] c. 1841–1842<ref>[http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?mkey=mw02170] National Portrait gallery NPG 269</ref>]]
Development of the scientific basis for electrical engineering, using research techniques, intensified during the 19th century. Notable developments early in this century include the work of [[Georg Ohm]], who in 1827 quantified the relationship between the [[electric current]] and [[potential difference]] in a conductor, [[Michael Faraday]], the discoverer of [[electromagnetic induction]] in 1831.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Faraday, Michael |volume= 10 |last= Maxwell |first= James Clerk |author-link= James Clerk Maxwell | pages = 173–175; see page 173, final para, lines three and four|quote=...and on the 29th of August 1831 he obtained the first evidence that an electric current can induce another in a different circuit }}</ref> In the 1830s, Georg Ohm also constructed an early electrostatic machine. The [[homopolar generator]] was developed first by [[Michael Faraday]] during his memorable experiments in 1831. It was the beginning of modern dynamos – that is, electrical generators which operate using a magnetic field.  The invention of the industrial [[electric generator|generator]] in 1866 by [[Werner von Siemens]] – which did not need external magnetic power – made a large series of other inventions possible.

In 1873, [[James Clerk Maxwell]] published a unified treatment of electricity and [[magnetism]] in [[A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism]] which stimulated several theorists to think in terms of [[field (physics)|field]]s described by [[Maxwell's equations]]. In 1878, the British inventor [[James Wimshurst]] developed an apparatus that had two glass disks mounted on two shafts. It was not until 1883 that the [[Wimshurst machine]] was more fully reported to the scientific community.

[[Image:Thomas Edison, 1878.jpg|thumb|right|140px|[[Thomas Edison]] built the world's first large-scale electrical supply network]]
During the latter part of the 1800s, the study of electricity was largely considered to be a subfield of [[physics]]. It was not until the late 19th century that universities started to offer degrees in electrical engineering. 
In 1882, [[Darmstadt University of Technology]] founded the first chair and the first faculty of electrical engineering worldwide. In the same year, under Professor Charles Cross, the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] began offering the first option of Electrical Engineering within a physics department.<ref>{{cite book | author = Weber, Ernst |author2=Frederik Nebeker  | title = The Evolution of Electrical Engineering: A Personal Perspective | publisher = IEEE Press | year = 1994 | isbn = 0-7803-1066-7 | author-link = Ernst Weber (engineer) }}</ref> In 1883, [[Darmstadt University of Technology]] and [[Cornell University]] introduced the world's first courses of study in electrical engineering and in 1885 the [[University College London]] founded the first chair of electrical engineering in the United Kingdom. The [[University of Missouri]] subsequently established the first department of electrical engineering in the United States in 1886.<ref>{{cite book | author=Ryder, John |author2=Donald Fink |author-link2=Donald G. Fink  | title=Engineers and Electrons | url=https://archive.org/details/engineerselectro0000ryde | url-access=registration | publisher=IEEE Press | year=1984 | isbn=0-87942-172-X}}</ref>

During this period commercial use of electricity increased dramatically. Starting in the late 1870s cities started installing large scale electric street lighting systems based on [[arc lamp]]s.<ref>Quentin R. Skrabec, The 100 Most Significant Events in American Business: An Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO – 2012, page 86</ref> After the development of a practical [[incandescent lamp]] for indoor lighting, [[Thomas Edison]] switched on the world's first public electric supply utility in 1882, using what was considered a relatively safe 110 volts [[direct current]] system to supply customers. Engineering advances in the 1880s, including the invention of the [[transformer]], led to electric utilities starting to adopting [[alternating current]], up until then used primarily in arc lighting systems, as a distribution standard for outdoor and indoor lighting (eventually replacing direct current for such purposes). In the US there was a rivalry, primarily between a Westinghouse AC and the Edison DC system known as the "[[war of the currents]]".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=2kc69qrid9oC&q=%22war+of+the+currents%22&pg=PA85 Quentin R. Skrabec Jr, The 100 Most Significant Events in American Business – 2012, Page 85]</ref> 
[[File:George Westinghouse.jpg|thumb|140px|left|[[George Westinghouse]], American entrepreneur and engineer, financially backed the development of a practical AC power network.]]

"By the mid-1890s the four "Maxwell equations" were recognized as the foundation of one of the strongest and most successful theories in all of physics; they had taken their place as companions, even rivals, to Newton's laws of mechanics. The equations were by then also being put to practical use, most dramatically in the emerging new technology of radio communications, but also in the telegraph, telephone, and electric power industries."<ref>Bruce J. Hunt (1991) [[The Maxwellians]], page one</ref> By the end of the 19th century, figures in the progress of electrical engineering were beginning to emerge.<ref>{{cite web | title=History | work=National Fire Protection Association | url=http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=500&itemID=18020&URL=About%20Us/History | access-date=January 19, 2006 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928060123/http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=500&itemID=18020&URL=About%20Us%2FHistory | archive-date=September 28, 2007 }} ''(published 1996 in the NFPA Journal)''</ref>

[[Charles Proteus Steinmetz]] helped foster the development of alternating current that made possible the expansion of the electric power industry in the United States, formulating mathematical theories for engineers.

===Emergence of radio and electronics===
[[File:J.C.Bose.JPG|thumb|150px|[[Jagadish Chandra Bose]] in 1894]]
[[File:Charles Proteus Steinmetz.jpg|thumb|[[Charles Proteus Steinmetz]] circa 1915]]
During the [[invention of radio|development of radio]], many scientists and inventors contributed to [[radio|radio technology]] and electronics. In his classic [[Ultra high frequency|UHF]] experiments of 1888, [[Heinrich Hertz]] demonstrated the existence of electromagnetic waves ([[radio waves]]) leading many inventors and scientists to try to adapt them to commercial applications, such as [[Guglielmo Marconi]] (1895) and [[Alexander Popov (physicist)|Alexander Popov]] (1896).

[[Millimetre wave]] communication was first investigated by [[Jagadish Chandra Bose]] during 1894{{ndash}}1896, when he reached an [[extremely high frequency]] of up to 60{{nbsp}}[[GHz]] in his experiments.<ref>{{cite web |title=Milestones: First Millimeter-wave Communication Experiments by J.C. Bose, 1894–96 |url=https://ethw.org/Milestones:First_Millimeter-wave_Communication_Experiments_by_J.C._Bose,_1894-96 |website=[[List of IEEE milestones]] |publisher=[[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]] |access-date=October 1, 2019}}</ref> He also introduced the use of [[semiconductor]] junctions to detect radio waves,<ref name=emerson>{{cite book | doi =10.1109/MWSYM.1997.602853 | isbn = 0-7803-3814-6 |bibcode = 1997imsd.conf..553E | citeseerx = 10.1.1.39.8748 | s2cid = 9039614 | chapter = The work of Jagadis Chandra Bose: 100 years of mm-wave research | title = 1997 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest | date = 1997 | last1 = Emerson | first1 = D.T. | volume = 2 | pages = 553–556 }} reprinted in Igor Grigorov, Ed., ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=09Zsv97IH1MC Antentop]'', Vol. 2, No.3, pp. 87–96.</ref> when he patented the radio [[crystal detector]] in 1901.<ref name="computerhistory-timeline">{{cite web |title=Timeline |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/timeline/ |website=The Silicon Engine |publisher=[[Computer History Museum]] |access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref><ref name="computerhistory-1901">{{cite web |title=1901: Semiconductor Rectifiers Patented as "Cat's Whisker" Detectors |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/semiconductor-rectifiers-patented-as-cats-whisker-detectors/ |website=The Silicon Engine |publisher=[[Computer History Museum]] |access-date=August 23, 2019}}</ref>

==20th-century developments==
[[John Ambrose Fleming|John Fleming]] invented the first radio tube, the [[vacuum tube|diode]], in 1904.

[[Reginald Fessenden]] recognized that a continuous wave needed to be generated to make speech transmission possible, and by the end of 1906 he sent the first radio broadcast of voice. Also in 1906, [[Robert von Lieben]] and [[Lee De Forest]] independently developed the amplifier tube, called the [[vacuum tube|triode]].<ref>{{cite web | title = History of Amateur Radio | work = What is Amateur Radio? | url = http://www.amateurradio.uni-halle.de/hamradio.en.html | access-date = January 18, 2006 }}</ref> [[Edwin Howard Armstrong]] enabling technology for [[television|electronic television]], in 1931.<ref>{{cite web | title = History of TV | url = http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/recording/television1.html | access-date = January 18, 2006 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060212170014/http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/recording/television1.html | archive-date = February 12, 2006 }}</ref>

In the early 1920s, there was a growing interest in the development of domestic applications for electricity.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GWsZNONuGk0C&pg=PA245|title=Exhibiting Electricity|last1=Beauchamp|first1=K. G.|last2=Beauchamp|first2=Kenneth George|date=1997|publisher=IET|isbn=9780852968956|language=en}}</ref> Public interest led to exhibitions such featuring "homes of the future" and in the UK, the Electrical Association for Women was established with [[Caroline Haslett]] as its director in 1924 to encourage women to become involved in electrical engineering.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/biographies/haslett.cfm|title=Dame Caroline Haslett|website=The IET|language=en-UK|access-date=2018-11-03}}</ref>

=== World War II years ===
The second world war saw tremendous advances in the field of electronics; especially in [[radar]] and with the invention of the [[magnetron]] by [[John Randall (physicist)|Randall]] and [[Harry Boot|Boot]] at the [[University of Birmingham]] in 1940. [[Radio location]], [[radio communication]] and [[radio guidance]] of aircraft were all developed at this time. An early electronic computing device, [[Colossus computer|Colossus]] was built by [[Tommy Flowers]] of the [[General Post Office|GPO]] to decipher the coded messages of the German [[Lorenz SZ 40/42|Lorenz cipher machine]]. Also developed at this time were advanced clandestine radio transmitters and receivers for use by secret agents.

An American invention at the time was a device to scramble the telephone calls between [[Winston Churchill]] and [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. This was called the [[SIGSALY|Green Hornet]] system and worked by inserting noise into the signal. The noise was then extracted at the receiving end. This system was never broken by the Germans.

A great amount of work was undertaken in the United States as part of the War Training Program in the areas of radio direction finding, pulsed linear networks, [[frequency modulation]], [[vacuum tube circuit]]s, [[transmission line theory]] and fundamentals of [[electromagnetic engineering]]. These studies were published shortly after the war in what became known as the 'Radio Communication Series' published by McGraw-Hill in 1946.

In 1941 [[Konrad Zuse]] presented the [[Z3 (computer)|Z3]], the world's first fully functional and programmable computer.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Z3 | url=http://irb.cs.tu-berlin.de/~zuse/Konrad_Zuse/en/Rechner_Z3.html | access-date=January 18, 2006 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211035420/http://irb.cs.tu-berlin.de/~zuse/Konrad_Zuse/en/Rechner_Z3.html | archive-date=February 11, 2006 }}</ref>

=== Post-war years ===
Prior to the [[World War II|Second World War]], the subject was commonly known as '[[radio engineering]]' and was primarily restricted to aspects of communications and radar, commercial radio and early television. At this time, the study of radio engineering at universities could only be undertaken as part of a physics degree.

Later, in post war years, as consumer devices began to be developed, the field broadened to include modern TV, audio systems, Hi-Fi and latterly computers and microprocessors. 
In 1946 the [[ENIAC]] (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) of [[John Presper Eckert]] and [[John Mauchly]] followed, beginning the computing era. The arithmetic performance of these machines allowed engineers to develop completely new technologies and achieve new objectives, including the [[Project Apollo|Apollo missions]] and the [[Moon landing|NASA Moon landing]].<ref>{{cite web | title=The ENIAC Museum Online | url=http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~museum/guys.html | access-date=2006-01-18 }}</ref>

In the mid-to-late 1950s, the term radio engineering gradually gave way to the name [[electronics engineering]], which then became a stand-alone university degree subject, usually taught alongside electrical engineering with which it had become associated due to some similarities.

=== Solid-state electronics ===
{{See also|History of electronic engineering|History of the transistor|Invention of the integrated circuit|MOSFET|Solid-state electronics}}
[[File:Replica-of-first-transistor.jpg|thumb|A replica of the first working [[transistor]], a [[point-contact transistor]].]]
[[File:MOSFET Structure.png|thumb|[[Metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor]] (MOSFET), the basic building of modern [[electronics]].]]

The first working [[transistor]] was a [[point-contact transistor]] invented by [[John Bardeen]] and [[Walter Houser Brattain]] while working under [[William Shockley]] at the [[Bell Telephone Laboratories]] (BTL) in 1947.<ref>{{cite web |title=1947: Invention of the Point-Contact Transistor |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/invention-of-the-point-contact-transistor/ |website=[[Computer History Museum]] |access-date=August 10, 2019}}</ref> They then invented the [[bipolar junction transistor]] in 1948.<ref>{{cite web |title=1948: Conception of the Junction Transistor |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/conception-of-the-junction-transistor/ |website=The Silicon Engine |publisher=[[Computer History Museum]] |access-date=October 8, 2019}}</ref> While early [[junction transistor]]s were relatively bulky devices that were difficult to manufacture on a [[mass-production]] basis,<ref name="Moskowitz">{{cite book |last1=Moskowitz |first1=Sanford L. |title=Advanced Materials Innovation: Managing Global Technology in the 21st century |date=2016 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=9780470508923 |page=168 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2STRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA168}}</ref> they opened the door for more compact devices.<ref>{{cite web | title = Electronics Timeline | work = Greatest Engineering Achievements of the Twentieth Century | url = http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3956 | access-date =January 18, 2006 }}</ref>

The first [[integrated circuit]]s were the [[hybrid integrated circuit]] invented by [[Jack Kilby]] at [[Texas Instruments]] in 1958 and the monolithic integrated circuit chip invented by [[Robert Noyce]] at [[Fairchild Semiconductor]] in 1959.<ref name="Saxena140">{{cite book |last1=Saxena |first1=Arjun N. |title=Invention of Integrated Circuits: Untold Important Facts |date=2009 |publisher=[[World Scientific]] |isbn=9789812814456 |page=140 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-3lpDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA140}}</ref>

In 1955, [[Carl Frosch]] and Lincoln Derick accidentally grew a layer of silicon dioxide over the silicon wafer, for which they observed surface passivation effects.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Huff |first1=Howard |last2=Riordan |first2=Michael |date=2007-09-01 |title=Frosch and Derick: Fifty Years Later (Foreword) |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/2.F02073IF |journal=The Electrochemical Society Interface |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=29 |doi=10.1149/2.F02073IF |issn=1064-8208|url-access=subscription }}</ref> By 1957 Frosch and Derrick, using masking and predeposition, published their manufactured silicon dioxide planar transistors, the first field effect transistors in which drain and source were adjacent at the same surface.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Frosch |first1=C. J. |last2=Derick |first2=L |date=1957 |title=Surface Protection and Selective Masking during Diffusion in Silicon |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/1.2428650 |journal=Journal of the Electrochemical Society |language=en |volume=104 |issue=9 |pages=547 |doi=10.1149/1.2428650|url-access=subscription }}</ref> They showed that silicon dioxide insulated, protected silicon wafers and prevented dopants from diffusing into the wafer.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Frosch |first1=C. J. |last2=Derick |first2=L |date=1957 |title=Surface Protection and Selective Masking during Diffusion in Silicon |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/1.2428650 |journal=Journal of the Electrochemical Society |language=en |volume=104 |issue=9 |pages=547 |doi=10.1149/1.2428650|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 

Following this research, [[Mohamed Atalla]] and [[Dawon Kahng]] proposed a silicon MOS transistor in 1959<ref name="Bassett22">{{cite book |last1=Bassett |first1=Ross Knox |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UUbB3d2UnaAC&pg=PA22 |title=To the Digital Age: Research Labs, Start-up Companies, and the Rise of MOS Technology |date=2007 |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8018-8639-3 |pages=22–23}}</ref> and successfully demonstrated a working MOS device with their Bell Labs team in 1960.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Atalla |first1=M. |author1-link=Mohamed Atalla |last2=Kahng |first2=D. |author2-link=Dawon Kahng |date=1960 |title=Silicon-silicon dioxide field induced surface devices |journal=IRE-AIEE Solid State Device Research Conference}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=1960 – Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) Transistor Demonstrated |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/metal-oxide-semiconductor-mos-transistor-demonstrated/ |journal=The Silicon Engine |publisher=[[Computer History Museum]] |access-date=2023-01-16}}</ref> Their team included E. E. LaBate and E. I. Povilonis who fabricated the device; M. O. Thurston, L. A. D’Asaro, and J. R. Ligenza who developed the diffusion processes, and H. K. Gummel and R. Lindner who characterized the device.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=KAHNG |first=D. |date=1961 |title=Silicon-Silicon Dioxide Surface Device |url=https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814503464_0076 |journal=Technical Memorandum of Bell Laboratories |pages=583–596 |doi=10.1142/9789814503464_0076 |isbn=978-981-02-0209-5|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lojek |first=Bo |title=History of Semiconductor Engineering |date=2007 |publisher=Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg |isbn=978-3-540-34258-8 |location=Berlin, Heidelberg |page=321}}</ref> This was a culmination of decades of field-effect research that began with Lilienfeld.

The [[MOSFET]] was the first truly compact transistor that could be miniaturised and mass-produced for a wide range of uses.<ref name="Moskowitz" /> It revolutionized the [[electronics industry]],<ref name="Chan">{{cite book |last1=Chan |first1=Yi-Jen |title=Studies of InAIAs/InGaAs and GaInP/GaAs heterostructure FET's for high speed applications |date=1992 |publisher=[[University of Michigan]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sV4eAQAAMAAJ |page=1 |quote=The Si MOSFET has revolutionized the electronics industry and as a result impacts our daily lives in almost every conceivable way.}}</ref><ref name="Grant">{{cite book |last1=Grant |first1=Duncan Andrew |last2=Gowar |first2=John |title=Power MOSFETS: theory and applications |date=1989 |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |isbn=9780471828679 |page=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZiZTAAAAMAAJ |quote=The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) is the most commonly used active device in the very large-scale integration of digital integrated circuits (VLSI). During the 1970s these components revolutionized electronic signal processing, control systems and computers.}}</ref> becoming the most widely used electronic device in the world.<ref name="computerhistory-transistor">{{cite web |date=December 4, 2013 |title=Who Invented the Transistor? |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/who-invented-the-transistor/ |access-date=July 20, 2019 |website=[[Computer History Museum]]}}</ref><ref name="Golio">{{cite book |last1=Golio |first1=Mike |last2=Golio |first2=Janet |title=RF and Microwave Passive and Active Technologies |date=2018 |publisher=[[CRC Press]] |isbn=9781420006728 |pages=18–2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MCj9jxSVQKIC&pg=SA18-PA2}}</ref><ref name="computerhistory2018">{{cite web |title=13 Sextillion & Counting: The Long & Winding Road to the Most Frequently Manufactured Human Artifact in History |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/13-sextillion-counting-the-long-winding-road-to-the-most-frequently-manufactured-human-artifact-in-history/ |date=April 2, 2018 |website=[[Computer History Museum]] |access-date=July 28, 2019}}</ref>

<gallery widths="120" perrow="4">
File:Bardeen Shockley Brattain 1948.JPG|[[John Bardeen]], [[William Shockley]], [[Walter Brattain]] {{ndash}} [[transistor]] (1947)
File:Robert Noyce with Motherboard 1959.png|[[Robert Noyce]] {{ndash}} [[monolithic integrated circuit]] chip (1959)
File:Gordon Moore.jpg|[[Gordon Moore]]  {{ndash}}<br />[[Moore's law]] (1965)
File:Federico Faggin (cropped).jpg|[[Federico Faggin]] {{ndash}} [[silicon-gate]] MOSFET (1968) and [[microprocessor]] (1971)
File:Marcian Ted Hoff.jpg|[[Marcian Hoff]] {{ndash}} microprocessor (1971)
File:Shima and Mazor.jpg|[[Masatoshi Shima]], [[Stanley Mazor]] {{ndash}} microprocessor (1971)
</gallery>

The MOSFET made it possible to build [[very-large-scale integration|high-density integrated circuit]] chips.<ref name="computerhistory-transistor" /> The earliest experimental MOS IC chip to be fabricated was built by Fred Heiman and Steven Hofstein at [[RCA Laboratories]] in 1962.<ref name="computerhistory-digital">{{cite web |title=Tortoise of Transistors Wins the Race – CHM Revolution |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/digital-logic/12/279 |website=[[Computer History Museum]] |access-date=July 22, 2019}}</ref> MOS technology enabled [[Moore's law]], the [[transistor count|doubling of transistors]] on an IC chip every two years, predicted by [[Gordon Moore]] in 1965.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Franco |first1=Jacopo |last2=Kaczer |first2=Ben |last3=Groeseneken |first3=Guido |title=Reliability of High Mobility SiGe Channel MOSFETs for Future CMOS Applications |date=2013 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=9789400776630 |pages=1–2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PnrGBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1}}</ref> [[Silicon-gate]] MOS technology was developed by [[Federico Faggin]] at Fairchild in 1968.<ref>{{cite web |title=1968: Silicon Gate Technology Developed for ICs |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/silicon-gate-technology-developed-for-ics/ |website=[[Computer History Museum]] |access-date=July 22, 2019}}</ref> Since then, the MOSFET has been the basic building block of modern electronics.<ref name="triumph">{{cite web |date=August 6, 2010 |title=Triumph of the MOS Transistor |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6fBEjf9WPw |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/q6fBEjf9WPw |archive-date=2021-12-19 |access-date=July 21, 2019 |website=YouTube |publisher=[[Computer History Museum]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=McCluskey |first1=Matthew D. |last2=Haller |first2=Eugene E. |title=Dopants and Defects in Semiconductors |date=2012 |publisher=[[CRC Press]] |isbn=9781439831533 |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fV3RBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Daniels|first1=Lee A.|title=Dr. Dawon Kahng, 61, Inventor In Field of Solid-State Electronics|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/28/nyregion/dr-dawon-kahng-61-inventor-in-field-of-solid-state-electronics.html|website=The New York Times|access-date=April 1, 2017|date=May 28, 1992}}</ref> The mass-production of silicon MOSFETs and MOS integrated circuit chips, along with continuous [[MOSFET scaling]] miniaturization at an exponential pace (as predicted by [[Moore's law]]), has since led to revolutionary changes in technology, economy, culture and thinking.<ref name="Feldman">{{cite book |last1=Feldman |first1=Leonard C. |author1-link=Leonard Feldman |chapter=Introduction |title=Fundamental Aspects of Silicon Oxidation |date=2001 |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |isbn=9783540416821 |pages=1–11 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sV4y2-mWGNIC&pg=PA1}}</ref>

The [[Apollo program]] which culminated in [[Moon landing|landing astronauts on the Moon]] with [[Apollo 11]] in 1969 was enabled by [[NASA]]'s adoption of advances in [[semiconductor]] [[electronic technology]], including MOSFETs in the [[Interplanetary Monitoring Platform]] (IMP)<ref>{{cite book |title=Interplanetary Monitoring Platform |date=August 29, 1989 |publisher=[[NASA]] |pages=1, 11, 134 |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19800012928.pdf |access-date=August 12, 2019|last1=Butler |first1=P. M. }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=White |first1=H. D. |last2=Lokerson |first2=D. C. |title=The Evolution of IMP Spacecraft Mosfet Data Systems |journal=[[IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science]] |date=1971 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=233–236 |doi=10.1109/TNS.1971.4325871 |bibcode=1971ITNS...18..233W |issn=0018-9499}}</ref> and silicon integrated circuit chips in the [[Apollo Guidance Computer]] (AGC).<ref>{{cite web |title=Apollo Guidance Computer and the First Silicon Chips |url=https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/apollo-guidance-computer-and-first-silicon-chips |website=[[National Air and Space Museum]] |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] |access-date=September 1, 2019 |date=October 14, 2015}}</ref>

The development of MOS integrated circuit technology in the 1960s led to the invention of the [[microprocessor]] in the early 1970s.<ref name="computerhistory1971">{{cite web |title=1971: Microprocessor Integrates CPU Function onto a Single Chip |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/microprocessor-integrates-cpu-function-onto-a-single-chip/ |website=[[Computer History Museum]] |access-date=July 22, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Colinge2016">{{cite book|last1=Colinge|first1=Jean-Pierre|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FvjUCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA2|title=Nanowire Transistors: Physics of Devices and Materials in One Dimension|last2=Greer|first2=James C.|date=2016|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=9781107052406|page=2}}</ref> The first single-chip microprocessor was the [[Intel 4004]], released in 1971.<ref name="computerhistory1971"/><ref name="sasaki">{{cite web |url        = http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Oral-History:Tadashi_Sasaki |title      = Oral-History: Tadashi Sasaki |last       = Aspray |first      = William |date       = May 25, 1994 |work       = Interview No. 211 for the Center for the History of Electrical Engineering |publisher  = The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. |access-date = January 2, 2013}}</ref> The Intel 4004 was designed and realized by Federico Faggin at Intel with his silicon-gate MOS technology,<ref name="computerhistory1971"/> along with Intel's [[Marcian Hoff]] and [[Stanley Mazor]] and Busicom's Masatoshi Shima.<ref name="ieee">[[Federico Faggin]], [https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=4776530 The Making of the First Microprocessor], ''IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine'', Winter 2009, [[IEEE Xplore]]</ref> This ignited the development of the personal computer. The 4004, a [[4-bit computing|4-bit]] processor, was followed in 1973 by the [[Intel 8080]], an [[8-bit computing|8-bit]] processor, which made possible the building of the first personal computer, the [[Altair 8800]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Computing History (1971–1975) | url=http://mbinfo.mbdesign.net/1971-75.htm | access-date=January 18, 2006 }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[History of electronic engineering]]
* [[History of electromagnetic theory]]
* [[History of radio]]

== References ==
{{Reflist
|refs=
<ref name=stewart>
{{Citation
| first = Joseph | last= Stewart
| title = Intermediate Electromagnetic Theory
| publisher = World Scientific
| year = 2001
| page = 50
| isbn = 981-02-4471-1}}
</ref>
|2}}

==Sources==
*{{DNB |last=Burnley |first= James |wstitle=Cooke, William Fothergill |volume=12|pages=102–103}}

==External links==
{{commons category|History of electrical engineering|<br>History of electrical engineering}}
* [http://www.electro.patent-invent.com/electricity/nobelwinners.html Nobel Prize Awards Related to Electrical Engineering] (relevant patents included)
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtp51eZkwoI&t=193s Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity – Jim Al-Khalili BBC Horizon]
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004y269 Electrickery], BBC Radio 4 discussion with Simon Schaffer, Patricia Fara & Iwan Morus (''In Our Time'', November 4, 2004)
*[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22766 Electricity for Boys] (1914) by [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/635 James Slough Zerbe].

{{History of physics}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Electrical Engineering}}
[[Category:History of electrical engineering| ]]

[[de:Elektrotechnik#Geschichte, Entwicklungen und Personen der Elektrotechnik]]