People know who invented the light bulb, why not the Electric Motor?

Question

The electric motor is a Marbel....without it we might be as far back as the horse driven bugy...why do we not know who invented the electric motor?

Answer 1

Actually, it's for the same reason nobody can really say who invented the automobile or computer, which have had at least as much impact on society as electric motors - that being that progressively better ones were made by various people over many years, and the ones used today don't really have much in common with the earlier ones.

Though in my opinion, Tesla should be given the most credit for modern versions.

Answer 2

Thomas Davenport Invented First Electric Motor

Answer 3

How about Michael Faraday in 1821 who made a couple of rotating motors? Davenport came along later in 1833 and invented the commutator which is the basis of most DC motors today. Tesla invented the induction motor many years later which is yet another type of motor.

Answer 4

Thomas Davenport invented the MODERN electric motor in 1832 and got the patent on it, but the person below me is right about Faraday inventing the very first electric motor.

http://www.perentech.com/devices/davenport/history/thomas_davenport.htm

Why don't most people know that nowadays? Because with schools...we've gone too far with worrying about having enough classes in diversity, and who needs ritalin and who doesn't, and no drug tolerance policies that include asprin and midol...that we've slacked on education. My son GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL without EVER taking a history class. That's pathetic.

Answer 5

We'd be using someone else's light bulb. Edison wasn't even the first to produce a light bulb; he just got a patent on a practical one.

Answer 6

tesla invented it