When was electricity first discovered?

Can you believe the earliest records of humanity’s interaction with electricity date back to ancient Egypt? Some of the first interactions between humans and electrical current recorded during the 28th Century BC were between ancient Egyptians and the electric catfish of the Nile.

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These electric catfish were described as grey or brown with bluish tinting and black blotches along it’s back. Their ventral fins were described as red, orange and yellow. Ancients were told that shocks from these fish could cure gout and headaches!

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Growing to over 60cm, modern Nile fishermen still encounter them today!

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Later around the 6th Century BC, Thales of Miletus (member of the Seven Sages of Greece, and according to Aristotle the founder of natural philosophy) wrote about static electricity when a cloth used to polish a piece of amber responded to the amber with an “attractive power”.

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Unfortunately, electricity remained an intellectual curiosity to philosophers and scholars until the 17th century: check back next week to learn about the inventors of electricity!