Galvani and the beginning of modern electricity--The construction of
the voltaic pile--Nicholson's and Carlisle's discovery that the galvanic
current decomposes water--Decomposition of various substances by Sir
Humphry Davy--His construction of an arc-light--The deflection of the
magnetic needle by electricity demonstrated by Oersted--Effect of
this important discovery--Ampere creates the science of
electro-dynamics--Joseph Henry's studies of electromagnets--Michael
Faraday begins his studies of electromagnetic induction--His famous
paper before the Royal Society, in 1831, in which he demonstrates
electro-magnetic induction--His explanation of Arago's
rotating disk--The search for a satisfactory method of storing
electricity--Roentgen rays, or X-rays.