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The idea of electricity, or the fact that amber acquires the power to attract light objects when rubbed, may have been known to the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus, who lived about 600 B.C.
Another Greek philosopher, Theophrastus, stated in a treatise that this power is possessed by other substances.
The first scientific study of electrical and magnetic phenomena, however, did not appear until A.D. 1600, from research done by the English physician William Gilbert. Gilbert was the first to apply the term electric (Greek, elektron, "amber") to the force that substances exerted after being rubbed. He also distinguished between magnetic and electric action.
Ben Franklin spent much time in electrical research. His famous kite experiment proved that the atmospheric electricity (that causes the phenomena of lightning and thunder) is identical with the electrostatic charge on a Leydan jar. Franklin developed his theory that electricity is a single "fluid" existing in all matter, and that its effects can be explained by excesses and shortages of this fluid.