June 2026 Talk
The Talk Sparks Fly - the evolution of electricity
Our recent talk by Colin Isenman - “Electricity - Sparks Fly” – took us on a journey through 200 years of electrical history in a non-technical way highlighting the major developments in our understanding and utilisation of electrical phenomena.
Splitting the topic into two streams, communication, and power generation, he cleverly explained how the findings of many scientists such as Faraday, Hertz, Heaviside, and Marconi were linked and subject to commercial pressure, went onto create the telephonic and wireless world, we have today.
Examining the work of Westinghouse, Edison, and Tesla he told the story of creating the grid, the issues facing it in the future with the use of solar farms, turbines, and power-hungry data centres. Looking to the very recent past he explained why the national grid in Iberia failed so spectacularly and how it took several days to fully restore.