Worldwide, many inventors worked in parallel on this task - it was a "fashion" problem. New phenomena were discovered almost daily. Inventions in the field of electrical science and its applications were in the air.  

Often the inventors knew nothing about each other and developed similar solutions independently. National histories are shaped accordingly until present day. The following is an attempt to provide a comprehensive and neutral picture.

The first rotating device driven by electromagnetism was built by the Englishman Peter Barlow in 1822 (Barlow's Wheel).

After many other more or less successful attempts with relatively weak rotating and reciprocating apparatus the German-speaking Prussian Moritz Jacobi created the first real rotating electric motor in May 1834 that actually developed a remarkable mechanical output power. His motor set a world record which was improved only four years later in September 1838 by Jacobi himself. His second motor was powerful enough to drive a boat with 14 people across a wide river. It was not until 1839/40 that other developers worldwide managed to build motors of similar and later also of higher performance.  

Already in 1833 the German Heinrich Friedrich Emil Lenz published an article about the law of reciprocity of the magneto-electric and electromagnetic phenomena, i.e. the reversibility of electric generator and motor. In 1838 he provided a detailed description of his experiments with a Pixii-generator that he operated as a motor.

1800  | For the first time Allessandro Volta (Italian) produces a continuous electrical power (as opposed to a spark or static electricity) from a stack of silver and zinc plates.



1820  | Hans Christian Oersted (Denish) finds the generation of a magnetic field by electric currents by observation of the deflection of a compass needle. This was the first time a mechanical movement was caused by an electric current.


1820 | André-Marie Ampère (French) invents the cylindric coil (solenoid).
1821        | Michael Faraday (British) creates two experiments for the demonstration of electromagnetic rotation. A vertically suspended wire moves in a circular orbit around a magnet.