As electricity continues to progress and supply our electrical devices such as lighting systems is now becoming mainstream, the demand for electricians to repair and install such devices and systems increased. By the 20th century, electricians were considered critical components of the technological age.
Famous Electricians
Electricians are known to be people who demonstrate or study the principles of electricity. They ensure the functionality of our devices and troubleshoots them in case there is a malfunction. Thus, the history of the profession of electricians grew out of the public’s desire for such complicated devices that not the ordinary man can tinker with. But are they given enough importance to be known? Who are these electricians that benefited to mankind and became famous for their contributions? Listed here are 11 of the people who grew up to be electricians and that the profession changed their lives.
1. Albert Einstein
Born: 14 March 1879
Died: 18 April 1955,
We are all familiar that being an electrician requires the most brain power to ensure the maintenance of such electrical devices. However, Albert Einstein surely did not have any troubles in handling electrical devices. As recorded, one of Einstein’s first ever jobs was running cables through a street and hanging lights up for his father and uncle during the first ever Oktoberfest that is to be lit with electric light by a steam generator that they designed. Once everything was in place, Einstein was asked to wander into the fair to make sure that all the lights were on and there were no malfunctions.
2. Benjamin Franklin
Born: 17 January 1706
Died: 17 April 1790,
He is known by many as the First American and a founding father, Benjamin Franklin was notably one of the first electricians in history to date. He was an inventor and a scientist that dwells upon the mysteries of electricity. He helped the world to grasp a deeper understanding of what electricity was and how it functions. The most famous for experiment conducted by Benjamin Franklin was that of flying kites into lightning storms , the result of which led to the innovation of lightning rods and grounding.
3. John Babcock
Born: 23 July 1900
Died: 18 February 2010
Babcock is known as one of the surviving veterans of the Canadian military that served in the First World War. He at first attempted to join in the army at a young age of fifteen, but was turned down and sent to work in Halifax. After being placed in the Young Soldiers Battalion in August 1917 Babcock was then transferred to the United Kingdom, where he continued his training in the army until the end of the war. Without being open in the fields of battle, he did not consider himself as a veteran. Having relatives in the United States, Babcock paid a $7 head tax and moved into the U.S. in 1921. After receiving a Canadian Army pension which totaled $750 after the war, he took advantage of the veteran vocational training in his native country to become an electrician. Babcock ran a small light plant in Sydenham.
4. Liam Cunningham
Born: 2 June 1961
Cunningham was born in the inner city area of Northside of Dublin, East Wall. He grew up as a child in Kilmore West with his three sisters and a brother. Cunningham dropped out of secondary school at the age of 15 and instead pursued a career to be an electrician. During the 1980s, Cunningham was assigned to move to Zimbabwe for three years where he is to provide electrical support and to maintain the functionality of electrical equipment at a safari park. During his stay, he trained Zimbabwean electricians.
5. Chad Larson
Born: 27 October 1965
Chad Larson is famous for playing the bass for the Orange County rock band The Aquabats. He, together with Boyd Terry and Christian Jacobs, co-founded The Aquabats in the year 1994. But before founding The Aquabats, Larson also worked for many years as an electrician. When The Aquabats are not having a gig or a tour, Larson is more known to be a professional electrician that lives in Huntington Beach, California with his wife and three children, not that punk bass guitarist that we know and love.
6. Nathan Tinkler
Born: 1 February 1976
Tinkler was born in Port Macquarie, New South Wales. Tinkler was qualified as an electrician at the Muswellbrook Technical and Further Education institution (TAFE). His training began at BHP’s Bayswater open-cut mine as an apprentice. He was fired after being reported to abuse his creditors, leaving him in debt during his time at the mine and refused to pay. But at the age of 26, using his training as an apprentice electrician and knowledge about the electronics used for mining, he started his own mine machinery maintenance business.
7. Forrest Baugher
Born: 29 December 1934
Forrest Baugher served in the Washington House of Representatives from the year 1985 to 1991. Prior to his term in the House, Baugher was a circuit repairman and served on the Governor’s Electrical Licensing Board for four years. In credit to his experience of being a professional electrician, Baugher was a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (local 112), the Masonic Lodge. Besides working with electronics, Baugher operates an orchard in Parker, Washington with his wife.
8. Robert G Elliott
Born: 27 January 1874,
Died: 10 October 1939,
Elliott was born in Hamlin, New York. While still a child, Elliott recounts that he had read the first use of the electric chair and with his curious childish mind pondered of how it feels to throw the switch at an execution. He applied and became employed in the prison service as a usual electrician, in charge of the power-house at Dannemora Prison. He remotely assisted Edwin Davis to perform electrocutions at Dannemora State Prison. The main role of Elliot was to change the armatures on the generator in the power house to produce enough power to send over high-tension wires to the electric chairs inside the prison complex. This on-the-job training and personal rapport with Davis gave him a good reputation in 1926 when he applied for the post of “State electrician” and accepted. On January 28, 1926 Elliott performed his first execution, the double electrocution of Emil Klatt and Luigi Rapito. Now that’s a shocking story.
9. John Robertson
Born: 16 November 1962
Robertson studied at Denistone East Primary School and Ryde High School. At the age of 15, his first job was working at packing shopping. A year later, he dropped out of school at the age of 16 and began working as an apprentice electrical fitter. He continued to work as an electrician to accommodate for family’s funds. His job lasted from 1979 until 1987 where he chose to work on the New South Wales Parliament building. He then became an industrial officer with the Labor Council of New South Wales in the year 1991. He successfully finished his profession of being a professional electrician and an organizer for the Electrical Trades Union.
10. William J. Lindsay
Born: 24 November 1945
Died: 11 September 2013
William J. Lindsay spent most of his life working as an electrician. This career of his started through an apprenticeship with the professionals at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). He spent many years working up as construction electrician and his expertise eventually became involved in the operation and management of the Union. Form being just an apprentice, Lindsay now worked his way up as a Business Manager of IBEW Local 25 in the start of the year 1992.
11. Rowan Atkinson
Born: 6 January 1955
Rowan Atkinson is a known actor, he is most famous for his roles in Blackadder and our ever so lovable Mr. Bean. Before Atikson’s acting carrier, he studied electrical engineering at Newcastle University. He then continued to study and achieve a Master’s Degree in the subject at The Queens College, Oxford in 1975. Despite this however, he never took his electrical career any further and quickly was fascinated into writing and comedy.