The timeline begins at 3000 B.C. and runs through 2020. The key highlights of the timeline include:
600 B.C. - Thales, a Greek philosopher, discovers static electricity when he rubbed amber with silk, it attracted feathers and other light objects
1600 - William Gilbert invented the term electricity from the Greek word for amber, elecktra. He was the first person to describe the earth's magnetic field and realize that there is a relationship between magnetism and electricity.
1752 - Ben Franklin, famous U.S. founding father, scientist and inventor, proposed an experiment to prove that lightning is electricity by flying a kite with a metal key attached into a thunderstorm. He was the first to label electrical charges positive and negative and initially discovered the principal of conservation of charge. His discoveries led to the implementation of lightning rods on tall buildings.
1766 - James Watt, a 29-year old Scotsman, designs a steam engine that produces power much more efficiently than the Newcomen engine of 1712. This invention will have a major impact on the Industrial Revolution. The unit of power "watt" is named in his honor.
1822 - Andre-Marie Ampere discovered the law that explains the link between a magnetic field and an electric current. He was the first person to develop a way to measure the magnitude of an electric current. The unit of current, "ampere" is named in his honor.
1827 - George Simon Ohm formulated a law that defines how the most important concepts in electricity relate to each other: voltage, current, and resistance. Ohm's Law is widely used today when designing and troubleshooting electronics. The unit of resistance, "Ohm," is named in his honor.
1878 - Joseph Swan, a British scientist, demonstrates the first electric light with a carbon filament lamp. A few months later, Thomas Edison made the same discovery in America.
1881 - The first public electricity supply was generated in Godalming, Surrey, UK using a waterwheel at a nearby mill.
1883 - The Carleton Hotel was the first building in Jacksonville to run electric lights, although only the exterior of the hotel was equipped. Just a couple weeks later, the St. James Hotel surpassed that feat by illuminating the building inside and out with the first permanent lights in Jacksonville.
1880's - Nikola Tesla invents the Tesla coil, stepping up ordinary household current to produce extremely high frequency current. Tesla used this high frequency current to develop some of the first neon and fluorescent lights.
1895 - Tesla/Westinghouse Niagara Falls Project was the world's first large hydroelectric plant. Within a few years of completion, Tesla's generators at Niagara Falls were supplying electricity to New York City for the elevated railways, subways and even the lights on Broadway.
1901 - The Great Fire of 1901 ignited and quickly spread throughout Jacksonville, destroying 146 city blocks including every transformer, light pole, street light globe and piece of wiring in the burnt district.
1905 - Albert Einstein demonstrates that light energy could be used to produce electricity and the idea behind photovoltaic cells is born.
1909 - This set of Edison Christmas Tree lights were the first to be used in Jacksonville.
1936 - Boulder Dam (later renamed the Hoover Dam) began operating on the Colorado River. The hydro power plant produced up to 130,000 kilowatts of electricity.
1964 - Hurricane Dora sweeps through Jacksonville and destroys almost 95 percent of the city's electric transmission and distribution systems.
1967 - The people of Jacksonville approved a new form of local government through consolidation and created the Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA).
1984 - The number of ethanol power plants in the U.S. peaked at 163.
2002 - Nuclear power provides about 16% of the world's electricity. In general, nuclear power is more attractive where energy demand is growing rapidly, such as China and India, and in places where alternatives are scarce or expensive.
2007 - U.S. wind power produced enough electricity, on average, to power the equivalent of over 2.5 million homes.
2010 - JEA celebrates the opening of Jacksonville Solar, a 15-megawatt solar photovoltaic facility using 200,000 PV panels on a 100-acre site. The facility is owned by PSEG Solar Source LLC. JEA purchases all power supplied by the solar facility.
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