Chapter 1: Electrical engineering

Electrical engineering is a subfield of engineering that focuses on the study, design, and use of various pieces of machinery, gadgets, and systems that make use of electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. In the latter part of the 19th century, after the commercialization of the electric telegraph, the telephone, and the generation, distribution, and use of electrical power, it evolved as a distinct activity that could be identified.

There are a large variety of subfields that fall under the umbrella of electrical engineering. Some of these subfields include computer engineering, systems engineering, power engineering, telecommunications, radio-frequency engineering, signal processing, instrumentation, photovoltaic cells, electronics, and optics and photonics. Hardware engineering, power electronics, electromagnetics and waves, microwave engineering, nanotechnology, electrochemistry, renewable energies, mechatronics/control, and electrical materials science are just some of the many subfields that fall under the umbrella of these disciplines. Many of these subfields overlap with other engineering branches.

In most cases, electrical engineers have earned a degree in either electrical engineering, electronic engineering, or electrical and electronic engineering altogether. Professional certification and membership in a professional body or an international standards organization are both possible for engineers who are actively working in practicing engineering. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET, previously the IEE) are some of the organizations that fall under this category.

There is a wide variety of industries in which electrical engineers are employed, and the abilities that are required for these jobs are also diverse. This includes everything from the theory of circuits to the management abilities required of a project manager. A straightforward voltmeter to complex design and manufacturing software are examples of the kinds of tools and equipment that an individual engineer would require. These tools and equipment can range from simple to complex.

Since the beginning of the 17th century, at the very least, there has been a scientific interest in the issue of electricity. In the early days of electrical science, William Gilbert was a notable figure. He is credited with being the first person to make a distinct distinction between magnetism and static electricity. It is generally agreed that he was the one who first used the term "electricity." Additionally, he was the creator of the versorium, which is a gadget that can detect the presence of objects that are statically charged. Johan Wilcke, a Swedish academic, came up with the idea for a device that would later be called the electrophorus. This device was able to generate a static electric charge. At the turn of the nineteenth century, Alessandro Volta had developed the voltaic pile, which was a precursor to the electric battery.

Beginning in the 19th century, there was a rise in the amount of research conducted on the topic. Notable developments in this century include the work of Hans Christian Ørsted, who discovered in 1820 that an electric current produces a magnetic field that will deflect a compass needle; of William Sturgeon, who in 1825 invented the electromagnet; of Joseph Henry and Edward Davy, who invented the electrical relay in 1835; of Georg Ohm, who in 1827 quantified the relationship between the electric current and potential difference in a conductor; of Michael Faraday, the discoverer of electromagnetic induction in 1831; and of James Clerk Maxwell, who in 1873 published a unified theory of electricity and magnetism in his treatise Electricity and Magnetism.

In the year 1782, Georges-Louis Le Sage constructed and demonstrated in Berlin what is believed to be the first version of electric telegraphy in the world. He utilized a total of 24 separate lines, one for each letter of the alphabet. These two rooms were connected by this telegraph. It was an electrostatic telegraph that worked by moving gold leaf through the process of electrical conduction.

The electrostatic telegraph system was a concept that Francisco Salva Campillo proposed in the year 1795. His work on electrical telegraphy spanned the years 1803 to 1804, and in 1804, he delivered a report on his findings to the Royal Academy of Natural Sciences and Arts of Barcelona. Despite the fact that it was highly influenced by and based upon two discoveries that were made in Europe in the year 1800, Salva's electrolyte telegraph system was extremely innovative. These discoveries were Alessandro Volta's electric battery, which was used to generate an electric current, and William Nicholson and Anthony Carlyle's electrolysis of water invention. There is a possibility that the first example of electrical engineering was the invention of electrical telegraphy. In the latter part of the 19th century, the field of electrical engineering emerged as a career. Practitioners had established a worldwide electric telegraph network, and the United Kingdom and the United States were the first countries to establish professional electrical engineering colleges in order to provide support for the emerging field of study. The year 1816 saw the creation of an electric telegraph system by Francis Ronalds, who also chronicled his vision of how electricity may revolutionize the world. After more than half a century, he became a member of the newly formed Society of Telegraph Engineers, which would eventually be called the Institution of Electrical Engineers. Within this organization, he was considered by his fellow members to be the pioneer of their group. By the time the 19th century came to a close, the world had been irrevocably altered as a result of the quick communication that was made possible by the engineering development of land-lines, undersea cables, and, beginning around the year 1890, wireless telegraphy.

The necessity for standardized units of measurement has been growing as a result of the practical applications and advancements that have been made in these disciplines. The units of volt, ampere, coulomb, ohm, farad, and henry were later standardized on an international level as a result of their efforts. A global gathering held in Chicago in the year 1893 was successful in accomplishing this goal. The publishing of these standards served as the foundation for further advancements in standardization across a variety of industries, and the definitions were quickly recognized in legislation concerning the subject matter in a number of countries and regions.

Due to the fact that early electrical technology was regarded to be electromechanical in nature, the study of electricity was primarily considered to be a subfield of physics throughout these years. In the year 1882, the Technische Universität Darmstadt established the very first department of electrical engineering in the whole world. In the year 1883, the university also created the very first degree program in electrical engineering. It was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the physics department that Professor Charles Cross initiated the first degree program in electrical engineering in the United States. However, it was Cornell University that produced the world's first graduates in the field of electrical engineering in the year 1885. The Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanic Arts at Cornell University was the institution that offered the very first course in electrical engineering in the year 1883.

Around the year 1885, Andrew Dickson White, the President of Cornell University, established the very first Department of Electrical Engineering in the United States for the first time. Additionally, in the same year, University College London established the very first chair of electrical engineering in the entire United Kingdom. Within the University of Missouri, the department of electrical engineering was initially formed in the year 1886 by Professor Mendell P. Weinbach. Later on, educational institutions such as universities and institutes of technology gradually began to provide students from all over the world with the opportunity to participate in electrical engineering programs.

Throughout these decades, there was a significant rise in the application of electrical engineering theory. In the year 1882, Thomas Edison activated the world's first large-scale electric power network, which supplied direct current (DC) at a voltage of 110 volts to 59 customers located on Manhattan Island in the city of New York. In 1884, Sir Charles Parsons came up with the idea for the steam turbine, which made it possible to generate electric power in a more efficient manner. Alternating current, which has the capacity to transmit power more effectively over long distances through the utilization of transformers, underwent rapid development in the 1880s and 1890s. During this time period, transformer designs were developed by Károly Zipernowsky, Ottó Bláthy, and Miksa Déri (later referred to as ZBD transformers), Lucien Gaulard, John Dixon Gibbs, and William Stanley Jr. Independently, Galileo Ferraris and Nikola Tesla came up with concepts for viable AC motors, including induction motors. Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovolsky and Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown went on to improve these inventions into a three-phase form that was more practical. Oliver Heaviside and Charles Steinmetz both made significant contributions to the theoretical foundation of alternating current technical development. The widespread adoption of alternating current (AC) in the United States sparked a conflict that has been referred to as the "war of...