1752–1831 CE · Global · Science
Experiments on charge, batteries, current and electromagnetic induction established the principles that would later power generators, motors and electrical networks.
Atlas dossier · Enlightenment & RevolutionsFree device narration · synchronized English captions · transcript available
Why it matters
Franklin’s 1752 work in Philadelphia investigated the electrical nature of lightning. Electricity was already a subject of experiment; he did not invent or first discover it. Research on both sides of the Atlantic explains this dossier’s global geography.
The Franklin Institute: Franklin and the kite experiment ↗At the Royal Institution in 1831, Faraday demonstrated electromagnetic induction. Moving a magnet through a coil produced a detectable current. The surviving October apparatus makes the principle tangible, while the later development of large generators and distribution networks belongs to a longer industrial history.
Royal Institution: Faraday’s generator ↗A visual presentation accompanying this entry. Read each image’s attribution to distinguish archival records, later depictions and reconstructions.
Rights-cleared archival or official image · CC BY 4.0
Portrait of Michael Faraday, by Drummond after Eddis Wellcome L0005470.jpg — Wikimedia Commons contributor; CC BY 4.0; via Wikimedia Commons
Source and reuse terms ↗ · Read the licence ↗Interpretation note
This dossier distinguishes the event’s basic chronology from later arguments about meaning, responsibility and legacy. When comparing religious, national, Indigenous or scholarly interpretations, consult the primary and institutional sources above alongside peer-reviewed historical work.
Elsewhere in the world
1763–1783 CE · imperial crisis, war and settlement · AmericasAmerican RevolutionConflict over imperial taxation and authority became rebellion and war; thirteen colonies declared independence in 1776 and secured British recognition in 1783.
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c. 1730–1760 CE · regional revival movements · AmericasThe Great AwakeningRevival movements transformed Protestant worship, print culture and ideas of individual conscience.