History[edit]

Main article: History of electrical engineering

Electricity has been a subject of scientific interest since at least the early-17th-century. William
Gilbert was a prominent early electrical scientist, and was the first to draw a clear distinction
between magnetism and static electricity. He is credited with establishing the term "electricity". [1] He
also designed the versorium: a device that detects the presence of statically charged objects. In
1762 Swedish professor Johan Wilcke invented a device later named electrophorus that produced a
static electric charge. By 1800 Alessandro Volta had developed the voltaic pile, a forerunner of the
electric battery.

19th century[edit]

The discoveries of Michael Faraday formed the foundation of electric motor technology.

In the 19th century, research into the subject started to intensify. Notable developments in this
century include the work of Hans Christian Ørsted who discovered in 1820 that an electric current
produces a magnetic field that will deflect a compass needle, of William Sturgeon who, in 1825
invented the electromagnet, of Joseph Henry and Edward Davy who invented the electrical relay in
1835, of Georg Ohm, who in 1827 quantified the relationship between the electric
current and potential difference in a conductor,[2] of Michael Faraday (the discoverer
of electromagnetic induction in 1831), and of James Clerk Maxwell, who in 1873 published a
unified theory of electricity and magnetism in his treatise Electricity and Magnetism.[3]
In 1782, Georges-Louis Le Sage developed and presented in Berlin probably the world's first form of
electric telegraphy, using 24 different wires, one for each letter of the alphabet. This telegraph
connected two rooms. It was an electrostatic telegraph that moved gold leaf through electrical
conduction.
In 1795, Francisco Salva Campillo proposed an electrostatic telegraph system. Between 1803 and
1804, he worked on electrical telegraphy and in 1804, he presented his report at the Royal Academy
of Natural Sciences and Arts of Barcelona. Salva's electrolyte telegraph system was very innovative
though it was greatly influenced by and based upon two new discoveries made in Europe in 1800 –
Alessandro Volta's electric battery for generating an electric current and William Nicholson and
Anthony Carlyle's electrolysis of water.[4] Electrical telegraphy may be considered the first example of
electrical engineering.[5] Electrical engineering became a profession in the later 19th century.
Practitioners had created a global electric telegraph network, and the first professional electrical
engineering institutions were founded in the UK and USA to support the new discipline. Francis
Ronalds created an electric telegraph system in 1816 and documented his vision of how the world
could be transformed by electricity.[6][7] Over 50 years later, he joined the new Society of Telegraph
Engineers (soon to be renamed the Institution of Electrical Engineers) where he was regarded by
other members as the first of their cohort.[8] By the end of the 19th century, the world had been
forever changed by the rapid communication made possible by the engineering development of
land-lines, submarine cables, and, from about 1890, wireless telegraphy.
Practical applications and advances in such fields created an increasing need for standardised units
of measure. They led to the international standardization of the
units volt, ampere, coulomb, ohm, farad, and henry. This was achieved at an international
conference in Chicago in 1893.[9] The publication of these standards formed the basis of future
advances in standardisation in various industries, and in many countries, the definitions were
immediately recognized in relevant legislation. [10]
During these years, the study of electricity was largely considered to be a subfield of physics since
the early electrical technology was considered electromechanical in nature. The Technische
Universität Darmstadt founded the world's first department of electrical engineering in 1882 and
introduced the first degree course in electrical engineering in 1883. [11] The first electrical engineering
degree program in the United States was started at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in
the physics department under Professor Charles Cross, [12] though it was Cornell University to
produce the world's first electrical engineering graduates in 1885. [13] The first course in electrical
engineering was taught in 1883 in Cornell's Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanic
Arts.[14] It was not until about 1885 that Cornell President Andrew Dickson White established the first
Department of Electrical Engineering in the United States. [15] In the same year, University College
London founded the first chair of electrical engineering in Great Britain. [16] Professor Mendell P.
Weinbach at University of Missouri soon followed suit by establishing the electrical engineering
department in 1886.[17] Afterwards, universities and institutes of technology gradually started to offer
electrical engineering programs to their students all over the world.
During these decades use of electrical engineering increased dramatically. In 1882, Thomas
Edison switched on the world's first large-scale electric power network that provided 110 volts
— direct current (DC) — to 59 customers on Manhattan Island in New York City. In 1884, Sir
Charles Parsons invented the steam turbine allowing for more efficient electric power
generation. Alternating current, with its ability to transmit power more efficiently over long distances
via the use of transformers, developed rapidly in the 1880s and 1890s with transformer designs
by Károly Zipernowsky, Ottó Bláthy and Miksa Déri (later called ZBD transformers), Lucien
Gaulard, John Dixon Gibbs and William Stanley, Jr. Practical AC motor designs including induction
motors were independently invented by Galileo Ferraris and Nikola Tesla and further developed into
a practical three-phase form by Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovolsky and Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown.
[18]
 Charles Steinmetz and Oliver Heaviside contributed to the theoretical basis of alternating current
engineering.[19][20] The spread in the use of AC set off in the United States what has been called
the war of the currents between a George Westinghouse backed AC system and a Thomas Edison
backed DC power system, with AC being adopted as the overall standard. [21]

Early 20th century[edit]

Guglielmo Marconi, known for his pioneering work on long-distance radio transmission

During the development of radio, many scientists and inventors contributed to radio technology and
electronics. The mathematical work of James Clerk Maxwell during the 1850s had shown the
relationship of different forms of electromagnetic radiation including the possibility of invisible
airborne waves (later called "radio waves"). In his classic physics experiments of 1888, Heinrich
Hertz proved Maxwell's theory by transmitting radio waves with a spark-gap transmitter, and
detected them by using simple electrical devices. Other physicists experimented with these new
waves and in the process developed devices for transmitting and detecting them. In 1895, Guglielmo
Marconi began work on a way to adapt the known methods of transmitting and detecting these
"Hertzian waves" into a purpose built commercial wireless telegraphic system. Early on, he sent
wireless signals over a distance of one and a half miles. In December 1901, he sent wireless waves
that were not affected by the curvature of the Earth. Marconi later transmitted the wireless signals
across the Atlantic between Poldhu, Cornwall, and St. John's, Newfoundland, a distance of 2,100
miles (3,400 km).[22]
Millimetre wave communication was first investigated by Jagadish Chandra Bose during 1894–1896,
when he reached an extremely high frequency of up to 60 GHz in his experiments.[23] He also
introduced the use of semiconductor junctions to detect radio waves,[24] when he patented the
radio crystal detector in 1901.[25][26]
In 1897, Karl Ferdinand Braun introduced the cathode ray tube as part of an oscilloscope, a crucial
enabling technology for electronic television.[27] John Fleming invented the first radio tube, the diode,
in 1904. Two years later, Robert von Lieben and Lee De Forest independently developed the
amplifier tube, called the triode.[28]
In 1920, Albert Hull developed the magnetron which would eventually lead to the development of
the microwave oven in 1946 by Percy Spencer.[29][30] In 1934, the British military began to make
strides toward radar (which also uses the magnetron) under the direction of Dr Wimperis,
culminating in the operation of the first radar station at Bawdsey in August 1936.[31]
In 1941, Konrad Zuse presented the Z3, the world's first fully functional and programmable computer
using electromechanical parts. In 1943, Tommy Flowers designed and built the Colossus, the world's
first fully functional, electronic, digital and programmable computer. [32][33] In 1946,
the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) of John Presper Eckert and John
Mauchly followed, beginning the computing era. The arithmetic performance of these machines
allowed engineers to develop completely new technologies and achieve new objectives. [34]
In 1948 Claude Shannon publishes "A Mathematical Theory of Communication" which
mathematically describes the passage of information with uncertainty (electrical noise).

Solid-state electronics[edit]
See also: History of electronic engineering, History of the transistor, Invention of the integrated
circuit, MOSFET, and Solid-state electronics

A replica of the first working transistor, a point-contact transistor

Metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), the basic building block of modern electronics

The first working transistor was a point-contact transistor invented by John Bardeen and Walter

Houser Brattain while working under William Shockley at the Bell Telephone Laboratories (BTL) in
1947.[35] They then invented the bipolar junction transistor in 1948.[36] While early junction
transistors were relatively bulky devices that were difficult to manufacture on a mass-
production basis,[37] they opened the door for more compact devices.[38]
The first integrated circuits were the hybrid integrated circuit invented by Jack Kilby at Texas
Instruments in 1958 and the monolithic integrated circuit chip invented by Robert Noyce at Fairchild
Semiconductor in 1959.[39]
The MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor, or MOS transistor) was invented
by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at BTL in 1959.[40][41][42] It was the first truly compact transistor
that could be miniaturised and mass-produced for a wide range of uses. [37] It revolutionized
the electronics industry,[43][44] becoming the most widely used electronic device in the world. [41][45][46]
The MOSFET made it possible to build high-density integrated circuit chips.[41] The earliest
experimental MOS IC chip to be fabricated was built by Fred Heiman and Steven Hofstein at RCA
Laboratories in 1962.[47] MOS technology enabled Moore's law, the doubling of transistors on an IC
chip every two years, predicted by Gordon Moore in 1965.[48] Silicon-gate MOS technology was
developed by Federico Faggin at Fairchild in 1968.[49] Since then, the MOSFET has been the basic
building block of modern electronics.[42][50][51] The mass-production of silicon MOSFETs and MOS
integrated circuit chips, along with continuous MOSFET scaling miniaturization at an exponential
pace (as predicted by Moore's law), has since led to revolutionary changes in technology, economy,
culture and thinking.[52]
The Apollo program which culminated in landing astronauts on the Moon with Apollo 11 in 1969 was
enabled by NASA's adoption of advances in semiconductor electronic technology, including
MOSFETs in the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP)[53][54] and silicon integrated circuit chips in
the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC).[55]
The development of MOS integrated circuit technology in the 1960s led to the invention of
the microprocessor in the early 1970s.[56][57] The first single-chip microprocessor was the Intel 4004,
released in 1971.[56] The Intel 4004 was designed and realized by Federico Faggin at Intel with his
silicon-gate MOS technology,[56] along with Intel's Marcian Hoff and Stanley Mazor and Busicom's
Masatoshi Shima.[58] The microprocessor led to the development of microcomputers and personal
computers, and the microcomputer revolution.

Subfields[edit]
One of the properties of electricity is that it is very useful for energy transmission as well as for
information transmission. These were also the first areas in which electrical engineering was
developed. Today electrical engineering has many subdisciplines, the most common of which are
listed below. Although there are electrical engineers who focus exclusively on one of these
subdisciplines, many deal with a combination of them. Sometimes certain fields, such as electronic
engineering and computer engineering, are considered disciplines in their own right.

Power and energy[edit]

Main articles: Power engineering and Energy engineering

The top of a power pole

Power & Energy engineering deals with the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity as

well as the design of a range of related devices.[59] These include transformers, electric
generators, electric motors, high voltage engineering, and power electronics. In many regions of the
world, governments maintain an electrical network called a power grid that connects a variety of
generators together with users of their energy. Users purchase electrical energy from the grid,
avoiding the costly exercise of having to generate their own. Power engineers may work on the
design and maintenance of the power grid as well as the power systems that connect to it. [60] Such
systems are called on-grid power systems and may supply the grid with additional power, draw
power from the grid, or do both. Power engineers may also work on systems that do not connect to
the grid, called off-grid power systems, which in some cases are preferable to on-grid systems. The
future includes Satellite controlled power systems, with feedback in real time to prevent power
surges and prevent blackouts.

Telecommunications[edit]
Main article: Telecommunications engineering
Satellite dishes are a crucial component in the analysis of satellite information.

Telecommunications engineering focuses on the transmission of information across

a communication channel such as a coax cable, optical fiber or free space.[61] Transmissions across
free space require information to be encoded in a carrier signal to shift the information to a carrier
frequency suitable for transmission; this is known as modulation. Popular analog modulation
techniques include amplitude modulation and frequency modulation.[62] The choice of modulation
affects the cost and performance of a system and these two factors must be balanced carefully by
the engineer.
Once the transmission characteristics of a system are determined, telecommunication engineers
design the transmitters and receivers needed for such systems. These two are sometimes combined
to form a two-way communication device known as a transceiver. A key consideration in the design
of transmitters is their power consumption as this is closely related to their signal strength.[63]
[64]
 Typically, if the power of the transmitted signal is insufficient once the signal arrives at the
receiver's antenna(s), the information contained in the signal will be corrupted by noise, specifically
static.

Control engineering[edit]
Main articles: Control engineering and Control theory

Control systems play a critical role in spaceflight.

Control engineering focuses on the modeling of a diverse range of dynamic systems and the design

of controllers that will cause these systems to behave in the desired manner. [65] To implement such
controllers, electronics control engineers may use electronic circuits, digital signal
processors, microcontrollers, and programmable logic controllers (PLCs). Control engineering has a
wide range of applications from the flight and propulsion systems of commercial airliners to
the cruise control present in many modern automobiles.[66] It also plays an important role in industrial
automation.
Control engineers often use feedback when designing control systems. For example, in
an automobile with cruise control the vehicle's speed is continuously monitored and fed back to the
system which adjusts the motor's power output accordingly.[67] Where there is regular
feedback, control theory can be used to determine how the system responds to such feedback.
Control engineers also work in robotics to design autonomous systems using control algorithms
which interpret sensory feedback to control actuators that move robots such as autonomous
vehicles, autonomous drones and others used in a variety of industries. [68]

Electronics[edit]
Main article: Electronic engineering

Electronic components

Electronic engineering involves the design and testing of electronic circuits that use the properties
of components such as resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes, and transistors to achieve a
particular functionality.[60] The tuned circuit, which allows the user of a radio to filter out all but a single
station, is just one example of such a circuit. Another example to research is a pneumatic signal
conditioner.
Prior to the Second World War, the subject was commonly known as radio engineering and basically
was restricted to aspects of communications and radar, commercial radio, and early television.
[60]
 Later, in post-war years, as consumer devices began to be developed, the field grew to include
modern television, audio systems, computers, and microprocessors. In the mid-to-late 1950s, the
term radio engineering gradually gave way to the name electronic engineering.
Before the invention of the integrated circuit in 1959,[69] electronic circuits were constructed from
discrete components that could be manipulated by humans. These discrete circuits consumed much
space and power and were limited in speed, although they are still common in some applications. By
contrast, integrated circuits packed a large number—often millions—of tiny electrical components,
mainly transistors,[70] into a small chip around the size of a coin. This allowed for the powerful
computers and other electronic devices we see today.

Microelectronics and nanoelectronics[edit]

Main articles: Microelectronics, Nanoelectronics, and Chip design
Microprocessor

Microelectronics engineering deals with the design and microfabrication of very small electronic

circuit components for use in an integrated circuit or sometimes for use on their own as a general
electronic component.[71] The most common microelectronic components
are semiconductor transistors, although all main electronic components (resistors, capacitors etc.)
can be created at a microscopic level.
Nanoelectronics is the further scaling of devices down to nanometer levels. Modern devices are
already in the nanometer regime, with below 100 nm processing having been standard since around
2002.[72]
Microelectronic components are created by chemically fabricating wafers of semiconductors such as
silicon (at higher frequencies, compound semiconductors like gallium arsenide and indium
phosphide) to obtain the desired transport of electronic charge and control of current. The field of
microelectronics involves a significant amount of chemistry and material science and requires the
electronic engineer working in the field to have a very good working knowledge of the effects
of quantum mechanics.[73]

Signal processing[edit]
Main article: Signal processing

A Bayer filter on a CCD requires signal processing to get a red, green, and blue value at each pixel.

Signal processing deals with the analysis and manipulation of signals.[74] Signals can be

either analog, in which case the signal varies continuously according to the information, or digital, in
which case the signal varies according to a series of discrete values representing the information.
For analog signals, signal processing may involve the amplification and filtering of audio signals for
audio equipment or the modulation and demodulation of signals for telecommunications. For digital
signals, signal processing may involve the compression, error detection and error correction of
digitally sampled signals.[75]
Signal Processing is a very mathematically oriented and intensive area forming the core of digital
signal processing and it is rapidly expanding with new applications in every field of electrical
engineering such as communications, control, radar, audio engineering, broadcast engineering,
power electronics, and biomedical engineering as many already existing analog systems are
replaced with their digital counterparts. Analog signal processing is still important in the design of
many control systems.
DSP processor ICs are found in many types of modern electronic devices, such as digital television
sets,[76] radios, Hi-Fi audio equipment, mobile phones, multimedia players, camcorders and digital
cameras, automobile control systems, noise cancelling headphones, digital spectrum analyzers,
missile guidance systems, radar systems, and telematics systems. In such products, DSP may be
responsible for noise reduction, speech recognition or synthesis, encoding or decoding digital media,
wirelessly transmitting or receiving data, triangulating positions using GPS, and other kinds of image
processing, video processing, audio processing, and speech processing.[77]

Instrumentation[edit]
Main article: Instrumentation engineering

Flight instruments provide pilots with the tools to control aircraft analytically.

Instrumentation engineering deals with the design of devices to measure physical quantities such
as pressure, flow, and temperature.[78] The design of such instruments requires a good understanding
of physics that often extends beyond electromagnetic theory. For example, flight
instruments measure variables such as wind speed and altitude to enable pilots the control of aircraft
analytically. Similarly, thermocouples use the Peltier-Seebeck effect to measure the temperature
difference between two points.[79]
Often instrumentation is not used by itself, but instead as the sensors of larger electrical systems.
For example, a thermocouple might be used to help ensure a furnace's temperature remains
constant.[80] For this reason, instrumentation engineering is often viewed as the counterpart of
control.

Computers[edit]
Main article: Computer engineering

Supercomputers are used in fields as diverse as computational biology and geographic information systems.

Computer engineering deals with the design of computers and computer systems. This may involve
the design of new hardware. Computer engineers may also work on a system's software. However,
the design of complex software systems is often the domain of software engineering, which is
usually considered a separate discipline.[81] Desktop computers represent a tiny fraction of the
devices a computer engineer might work on, as computer-like architectures are now found in a
range of embedded devices including video game consoles and DVD players. Computer engineers
are involved in many hardware and software aspects of computing. [82] Robots are one of the
applications of computer engineering.

Photonics and optics[edit]

Main articles: Photonics and Optics
Photonics and optics deals with the generation, transmission, amplification, modulation, detection,
and analysis of electromagnetic radiation. The application of optics deals with design of optical
instruments such as lenses, microscopes, telescopes, and other equipment that uses the properties
of electromagnetic radiation. Other prominent applications of optics include electro-optical
sensors and measurement systems, lasers, fiber optic communication systems, and optical disc
systems (e.g. CD and DVD). Photonics builds heavily on optical technology, supplemented with
modern developments such as optoelectronics (mostly involving semiconductors), laser
systems, optical amplifiers and novel materials (e.g. metamaterials).