There was no ‘One, two, three, and away’, but they began running when they liked and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over. Of all technological accomplishments, none so epitomizes human skill and ingenuity as the harnessing of electricity. Because so much of modern existence is based on it, electrical energy is inevitably taken for granted. Only occasional power failures are capable of reminding us just how dependent we are on this invisible commodity. The practical use of electricity is a surprisingly recent development. It is hard to believe that many of the scientists who precipitated this revolution, made their discoveries as recently as in the nineteenth century, and frequently wrote up their laboratory notes by candle-light. The great advances in atomic physics, early in the twentieth century, paved the way for a second revolution: solid state electronics. Its impact on society has been enormous, giving rise to new industries, new professions, new communication techniques and new organizations. Both revolutions depended, to an exceptional degree, on progress in fundamental science. The people responsible for this breathtaking series of innovations were primarily concerned with abstract ideas, but their efforts have given society radio, television, the telephone, the computer, new forms of heating, lighting, power and transport, and a host of other developments. Many electrical phenomena are transient in nature, whereas magnetism has the advantage of relative permanence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]