|
This timeline
highlights some important events in energy. It is broken up into
energy sources, uses, and issues.
Biomass
Fossil
Fuels
| 4,300,000
B.C.E. |
Photosynthesis
occurs in early plants |
| 200
B.C.E. |
Chinese
mine coal. |
| 100
C.E. |
Plutarch
writes about "eternal fires," probably a reference
to natural gas |
| 100
C.E. |
Romans
use coal for heating |
| 1300s |
Hopi
Indians use coal for cooking, heating, firing pottery |
| 1740 |
Commercial
coal mining starts. |
| 1880 |
Coal
used to generate electricity |
| 1821 |
First
natural gas well drilled in Fredonia, New York |
| 1859 |
First
oil production well drilled in Pennsylvania |
| 1891 |
First
natural gas pipeline built. 120 miles long, from Indiana to
Chicago |
Geothermal
| 1500
B.C.E. |
Hotsprings
used for bathing, cooking, and heating by Romans, Japanese,
Chinese, and others |
| 1841 |
Drilling
for geothermal water at Larderello, Italy intensifies due
to new methods |
Hydrogen
| 1998 |
Chicago
adds hydrogen cell buses to mass transit |
Nuclear
| 1898 |
Marie
Curie, Polish discovers the radioactive elements radium and
polonium |
| 1938 |
Otto
Hahn and Fritz Strassman, German, demonstrate nuclear fission |
| 1942 |
Manhattan
Project is formed to secretly build the atomic bomb before
the Germans |
| 1944 |
The
first nuclear reactor begins operation in Richland, Washington |
| 1945 |
The
U.S. explodes the first atomic device near Alamagordo, New
Mexico |
| 1945 |
The
U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrenders |
| 1946
|
The
Atomic Energy Act is passed, establishing the Atomic Energy
Commission (AEC). The AEC places further development of nuclear
technology under civilian (not military) control |
| 1951 |
The
first electricity producing breeder reactor is built by the
Atomic Energy Commission |
| 1961 |
President
Kennedy advises Americans to build fallout shelters in case
of a nuclear war |
| 1974 |
The
Atomic Energy Commission is abolished. The Nuclear Regulatory
Commission is developed |
| 1976 |
The
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act is passed to protect
human health and the environment from the potential hazards
of nuclear waste disposal |
| 1977 |
The
Voyager 2 spacecraft's electricity is generated by the decay
of plutonium pellets |
| 1979 |
Three
Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
suffers a partial core meltdown |
| 1983 |
The
U.S. looks into a high-level nuclear waste repository (storage) |
| 1986 |
Chernobyl
Nuclear Reactor meltdown and fire occur in the Soviet Union.
Massive quantities of radioactive material are released. Winds
carry radioactivity across western Europe |
| 2001 |
President
Bush approves an energy policy that looks at nuclear energy
as a significant part of America's energy |
Solar
| 5 billion
B.C.E. |
Our sun
forms |
| 3rd century
B.C.E. |
Greeks
and Romans use magnifying glasses to burn the sails of enemy
ships |
| 50 C.E. |
Romans
perfect making glass windows |
| 1300s |
Anasazi
Indians build cliff dwellings with southern exposures, providing
passive solar heating and cooling |
| early
17th century |
Solomon
de Caux constructs a solar water pump |
| 1695 |
Italian
scientists Averoni and Targioni use a large glass and the
sun's rays to melt a diamond |
| 1866 |
August Mouchat, French, designs a solar food cooker |
| 1826 |
Swedish
born American john Ericsson builds a hot-air engine powered
by the sun |
| 1890s |
Abel
Pifre, French, designs a solar engine used to run a printing
press for a paper called Le Journal Soleil (Sun Journal) |
| 1954 |
D.M.
Chaplin, C.S. Fuller, and G.L. Pearson invent solar voltaic
cells |
| 1983 |
Wisconsin
passes a law on the "right to light" for gardens |
Wind
| 644
C.E. |
First
vertical axis windmill recorded in Iran |
| 1100
C.E. |
Windmills
introduced to Europe |
| 1887 |
Charles
Brush, American, builds first modern automatically operating
wind turbine |
| 1950s |
Johannes
Juul developed the first alternating current (AC) windmill |
| 1931 |
French
engineer, George Darrieus, patents the wind turbine bearing
his name |
Electricity
| 1875 |
Thomas
Edison invents the telegraph machine |
| 1891 |
Nikola
Tesla invents the tesla coil |
| 1904 |
The
first geothermal powerplant is built in Laderello, Italy |
Manufacturing
| 1698 |
Steam
pump invented by Thomas Savery |
| 1712 |
Thomas
Newcome's 2500 horsepower reciprocating steam engine ran every
piece of equipment in Machinery Hall at the World's Fair |
| 1760 |
Richard
Arkwright invents the spinning frame (makes thread) |
| 1785 |
Edmund
Cartwright invents the water powered loom (makes fabric) |
| 1789 |
Samuel
Slater and Moses Brown create the first textile factory |
| 1793 |
Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin |
| 1801 |
Eli
Whitney mass produces guns |
Transportation
| 1765 |
James
Watt invents the steam engine |
| 1769 |
Nicolas-Joseph
Cugnot invents the first motorized carriage |
| 1787 |
John
Fitch invents the steamboat |
| 1803 |
Richard
Trevithick invents the steam locomotive (train) |
| 1814 |
George
Stephenson invents the railway locomotive |
| 1834 |
Thomas
Davenport invents the electric streetcar |
1860 |
Etienne
Lenoir invents the gasoline engine |
| 1885 |
Karl
Benz invents the gasoline powered automobile |
| 1892 |
Rudolph
Diesel invents the diesel engine |
| 1902 |
The
Wright Brothers build an airplane that flies |
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