Electrical engineering

Electrical engineering (sometimes referred to as electrical and electronic engineering) is
a professional engineering discipline that deals with the study and application of
electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable
occupation in the late nineteenth century with the commercialization of the electric
telegraph and electrical power supply. The field now covers a range of sub-disciplines
including those that deal with power, optoelectronics, digital electronics, analog
electronics, artificial intelligence, control systems, electronics, signal processing and
telecommunications.


The term electrical engineering may or may not encompass electronic engineering.
Where a distinction is made, electrical engineering is considered to deal with the
problems associated with large-scale electrical systems such as power transmission and
motor control, whereas electronic engineering deals with the study of small-scale
electronic systems including computers and integrated circuits.Another way of looking at
the distinction is that electrical engineers are usually concerned with using electricity to
transmit energy, while electronics engineers are concerned with using electricity to
transmit information.

Electricity has been a subject of scientific interest since at least the 17th century, but it
was not until the 19th century that research into the subject started to intensify. Notable
developments in this century include the work of Georg Ohm, who in 1827 quantified the
relationship between the electric current and potential difference in a conductor, Michael
Faraday, the discoverer of electromagnetic induction in 1831, and James Clerk Maxwell,
who in 1873 published a unified theory of electricity and magnetism in his treatise on
Electricity and Magnetism.


During these years, the study of electricity was largely considered to be a subfield of
physics. It was not until the late 19th century that universities started to offer degrees in
electrical engineering. The Darmstadt University of Technology founded the first chair
and the first faculty of electrical engineering worldwide in 1882. In 1883 Darmstadt
University of Technology and Cornell University introduced the world’s first courses of
study in electrical engineering and in 1885 the University College London founded the
first chair of electrical engineering in the United Kingdom.The University of Missouri
subsequently established the first department of electrical engineering in the United
States in 1886.