The electricity that began the science revolution

David Santiago-Bonilla

Throughout the ages there have been periods of time that it characterizes from the rest of the periods. Each new period of time represents mankind progress or deterioration in the fields of knowledge. The Sumerians with the writing, the Greeks and Romans philosophies, Mayan engineering, the dark era in Europe, and the discovery of the New World that ended the middle ages to the modern times. This period of new discoveries and knowledge was one of the reasons of thinking in a new form. A new way to see life and human knowledge emerged. Thus, the renaissance, with the knowledge of the old civilizations, re-appeared and foments new works of arts and engineering.

Although the Renaissance was primarily a new re-born of the arts, the culture that achieved this time of period made efforts to new studies, and the sciences made new discoveries that challenged the medieval-way of thinking. It began with Copernicus and in the 18^th century, began the Era of Enlightenment. This era is known for the belief of the reason and human knowledge as almighty and the traditions as a matter of the past. The science was at its peak of study activities.

One of the members of the era was the Italian scientist Alessandro Volta. He began to be self-taught and was a genius of electricity. He made various investigations like the electrical tension; invented the voltaic battery, and other instruments such as electrophorus, the electrical pistol, eudiometer and condenser. He was challenged by the church, even thought his family was devoted, but he still was interested in the philosophies of natural sciences. Other scientists, and even politicians, such as Benjamin Franklin, that is, perhaps, one of the symbols of the era. Everything that characterized the era, Franklin did it. Franklin is best known with the story of the “discovery of lighting electricity flying a kite in a storm”. Rather that is dangerous and is a myth (because he could be killed) he was a scientist in electricity. He made the theory of electricity, invented the lightning rod, and demonstrated that pure science can benefit the common people, and explain the phenomena of the electrostatic induction.

This events that changed the world, were all thanks to the electric scientist that, with no information and experimented themselves, made possible that the Era of Enlightenment could be a starting point to new discoveries. The novel Frankenstein, of Mary Shelley, is an example of the new discoveries in electricity, as the monster is given life with electricity. The concepts of the electromagnetism in studies jut year before inspired a well known world literature. The electricity studies also helped a new era, the Industrial Revolution, with science helping to produce more items and fomenting new discoveries. Thanks to the scientist and their researches, new and modern concepts have been developed, such as the electrical light, the modern inventions like the telegraph, telephones, radios and computers; and with the new technologies, new ideas, new fantasies and thoughts that inspire minds to create more and improve better in any field of study. We couldn’t gat this far without the help of the scientist, like Volta, Franklin, Ampere, etc. whose intellectual research in electricity took the physics to modern times.