William Thomson, known as Lord Kelvin, was one of the most eminent scientists of the nineteenth century and is best known today for inventing the international system of absolute temperature that bears his name. He made contributions to...

Although specifically designed for physics students at Caltech, anyone interested in learning more about electricity, magnetism or various other physical phenomena can benefit by exploring these interactive applets. A circuit tutorial...

Vasarosnamenyi Baro Eotvos Lorand, better known as Roland Eotvos or Lorand Eotvos throughout much of the world, was a Hungarian physicist who is most recognized for his extensive experimental work involving gravity, but who also made...

Find out more about German physicist Wilhelm Weber, who developed and enhanced a variety of devices for sensitively detecting and measuring magnetic fields and electrical currents.

In the modern world, virtually everyone is familiar with electricity as an accessible, essential form of energy. In electricity's earlier days, scientists used the buildup and release of static electricity.

The Scottish instrument maker and inventor James Watt had a tremendous impact on the shape of modern society. His improvements to the steam engine were a significant factor in the Industrial Revolution, and when the Watt engine was...

Claude Shannon was a mathematician and electrical engineer whose work underlies modern information theory and helped instigate the digital revolution. He was the first person to recognize how Boolean algebra could be used to great...

Molecular Expressions is a comprehensive scientific educational resource that features a considerable collection of interactive Java tutorials relating to electricity and magnetism. Tutorials range in complexity and difficulty of...

Magnetic shunts are often used to adjust the amount of flux in the magnetic circuits found in most electrical motors. (Java tutorial)

Electric motors turn electricity into motion by exploiting electromagnetic induction.

Recreate the discovery by Hans Christian Oersted about the relationship between electricity and magnetism in this very simple experiment.

The Applied Science resource consists of practical activities that demonstrate the importance of standard procedures in scientific work. Students examine electrical properties through a variety of activities. Some topics investigated are...

Use this site to learn about the inventor of the electro-magnetic motor, Nikola Tesla. Find out why Tesla's experimentation with alternating current was so important to later inventions and use of electricity.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers a free and open educational resource for educators, students and self-learners. The university's physics OpenCourseWare includes a large section on electricity and magnetism. Numerous...

Hans Christian Orsted's accidental discovery that an electrical current moves a compass needle rocks the scientific world; a spate of experiments follows, immediately leading to the first electromagnet and electric motor.

Aided by tools such as static electricity machines and Leyden jars, scientists continue their experiments into the fundamentals of magnetism and electricity.

The first telegraphs are constructed and Michael Faraday produces much of his brilliant and enduring research into electricity and magnetism, inventing the first primitive transformer and generator.

The Scientific Revolution takes hold, facilitating the groundbreaking work of luminaries such as William Gilbert, who took the first truly scientific approach to the study of magnetism and electricity and wrote extensively of his findings.

Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison duke it out over the best way to transmit electricity and Heinrich Hertz is the first person (unbeknownst to him) to broadcast and receive radio waves.

Albert Einstein publishes his special theory of relativity and his theory on the quantum nature of light, which he identified as both a particle and a wave. With ever new appliances, electricity begins to transform everyday life.

A discovery by Hans Christian Orsted forever changed the way scientists think about electricity and magnetism. While preparing to perform an experiment during a lecture at the University of Copenhagen, he found that the magnetized needle...

Because they could store significant amounts of charge, Leyden jars allowed scientists to experiment with electricity in a way never before possible.

English scientist William Crookes was very innovative in his investigations with vacuum tubes and designed a variety of different types to be used in his experimental work. Crookes tubes are glass vacuum chambers that contain a positive...

James Prescott Joule experimented with engines, electricity and heat throughout his life. Joule's findings resulted in his development of the mechanical theory of heat and Joule's law, which quantitatively describes the rate at which...